Previously on “Top Chef”: the producers wisely kept the product placement to the Quickfire, meaning everyone had to make an amuse bouche that would fit on a Ritz. May was judged the overall winner, which she was very pleased by. Then everyone was asked to make a rice dish, to serve 100 people and the judges. There were successful risottos. Ali made a dish from his childhood, and won for his flavors and balance. Dawn didn't leave anything off her plates but she did serve crunchy rice instead of porridge so she was eliminated. (click for more)
In Last Chance Kitchen: Dawn and Samuel were both given ingredients for one of the dishes they had made in their season finale. They had to make something new in thirty minutes. Tom declared Dawn the winner, because apparently Samuel didn't season his food. Didn't season, or didn't know how Tom really likes salt, the way Dawn knows this information?
Everyone is worried about how good chefs are going home. Ali says he was just trying to showcase his roots. Amar jokes that Top Chef: Middle East is kicking everyone's ass. Heh. Sylwia talks about how the world is, and says she cooked food for Ukrainian refugees. So maybe this show can help bring people together.
Gail and Tom show up to the Stew Room, which is never a good sign. Gabri says it's like you're having a party and your parents walk in. Tom says there's no Quickfire tomorrow. Everyone is skeptical. No matter how much Tom says it's a good thing, no one is buying it. Gail says she and Tom are going to take them around to try some of the most “traditional” food in London. It's a pub crawl! Luciana says in the time she's been living here, pub food has really improved. Tom tells them the first spot, so they can meet there, and Luciana makes a shocked face. She tells everyone that's the most traditional pub ever.
In the morning Sara says she doesn't want coffee, she wants water to prepare. Tom says you don't go on Top Chef to have a good time. It's never a good time, eventually they throw you in the kitchen and make you cook. Nicole says Canadians are the masters of pub crawls. I don't know how early it is but I'm pretty sure it's still morning and they've all got pints. Gail says they're going to have fish and chips, fisherman's pie, and a “proper” Sunday roast. The pie has both fish and shrimp, and cheese, and potatoes on top. Sylwia knows exactly how to get the potatoes right; she lived here for a dozen years. People are getting refills on beers, but Charbel isn't drinking because he knows something's coming. He's just taking notes. The roast has a Yorkshire pudding and they make a point to explain how that works.
On the way to the next place Amar says he's already full and Gail is like, I'm ashamed of you, you need to represent. At the second pub, they get shepherd's pie, steak and ale pie, and toad in the hole. Gabri tries to teach Buddha some Spanish which isn't going well. Toad in the hole is a Yorkshire pudding with a sausage baked in it. Also it is actual shepherd's pie with lamb and not beef. Begoña and Victoire are not super thrilled about this food. Victoire especially is being eloquent with her facial expressions.
At the last place they are eating bangers and mash, and a Scotch egg. Scotch eggs are good, and these have 'nduja, which is a spicy spreadable salami thing. Sylwia is very happy with potatoes. Gail declares it's time to get down to business, to no one's surprise. Today's Elimination challenge is to elevate these dishes they just ate. The coasters under the beers have numbers. They need to pair up because it's a team challenge. You need to serve the judges and 40 guests. The numbers will determine who gets to pick out their dish first. Dale and May (they pick Scotch egg after a lot of whispering); Tom and Sara (shepherd's pie); Nicole and Charbel (Sunday roast); Luciana and Buddha (fisherman's pie); Amar and Ali (fish and chips); Begoña and Gabri (bangers and mash); Victoire and Sylwia (toad in the hole). Two hours to cook tomorrow, for the director of London's only Michelin-starred pub. Oh, and by the way, it's a double elimination.
Everyone brainstorms. May wants the diners to cut the eggs in half themselves, but Dale is worried the eggs could be poorly cooked and they'd never know. Tom has a lot of fancy ideas. Victoire didn't even like toad in the hole, and Sylwia is busy saying “trust me”. Victoire says the last time someone said that to her she lost her house. Yikes. There are some good ideas going around, but not as much “let me put my spin on it”. Ali wants to make sure in the end it's still fish and chips. Dale is kind of shitting on May's ideas, or at least from what we see. May is saying she has to support the team, which is not a good sign. That's when the judges say “you should have spoken up, you got lost in this dish” and then you end up on the bottom.
On the way back to the pub the next day, there are a lot of shots of people chatting in the cars, and then May and Dale not speaking. Two hours to cook. Ali says chips have to have malt vinegar, so Amar thought of malt vinegar salt. It ends up good. Victoire is making sauce for toad in the hole, with mustard, and then Sylwia is making lemieszka, which looks like a potato pancake. That's what the sausage is going in, not a Yorkshire pudding. Buddha has a filet of fish, which is apparently covered in prawn paste? And then he's putting zucchini slices on like scales. He says he learned it while working at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant. Gabri interviews that he's making pork belly with sausage flavors. Dale tests the Scotch eggs, and the sausage part is maybe dry, but May says when you eat it with the egg it's fine. Sylwia and Victoire have a communication problem when Sylwia asks if something is ready and I think Victoire thinks “ready” is some type of food. Nicole is going to start the Yorkshire puddings, and someone took her muffin tins out of the oven, because she's trying to heat them up and they're empty, so I'm sure someone thought they were just taking up space. She announces to the kitchen that they're there for a reason and you should talk to her if you're in a jam. Then she just kind of acts like she's waiting for people to say “Yes Chef” but no one is saying anything. Sara makes a side comment about how useless this is. No one is going to respond. Amar's fish batter is too soft, so he's adding cornstarch and flour. Luciana is being fancy, and making very creamy mashed potatoes, and Buddha wants them to be thicker? More like potatoes? They are both using a lot of words I don't immediately understand but I think that's the gist. Buddha doesn't know how to convince someone who won their season that their potatoes aren't good enough. I'm sure they're “good” they just aren't “potato” enough and Buddha has guessed the judges will ding them for it. At least Buddha is going to redo them himself. Gabri thinks the pork belly is undercooked, and Begoña says it's fine, just put it in a pan with sauce and it'll be fine.
Tom arrives with a stupid flat cap that he's wearing backwards. Victoire is very proud of her sauce. Victoire and Sylwia (toad in the hole): African spiced sausage, Yorkshire pancakes, truffle powder, crème chantilly with mustard and honey. The sauce is a little sweet, and it's not “traditional”, but it's all tasty and flavorful.
Begoña and Gabri (bangers and mash): pork belly with potato foam mash, sausage gravy, and crunchy onion cookie. It's three or four cubes of pork belly, with the mash like a sauce, and then a lacy tuile balanced on top. It's a familiar flavor, even though it doesn't look anything like bangers and mash. Padma licked her plate.
Ali and Amar (fish and chips): seaweed battered cod, minted peas, mint and tahini veloute tartar sauce with calamansi and malt vinegar fries. Tom says the batter is still not crispy. It's too dense, and you can't screw up the batter on fried fish. Everyone likes the fries though.
Luciana and Buddha (fisherman's pie): cod with seafood and potatoes, pomme puree, mussels, and champagne sauce. The fish has a layer of seafood paste on top, and then round slices of zucchini on top of that. I'm not sure where the potatoes are and why they couldn't be creamy, but whatever. It's deconstructed and it tastes exactly like fish pie. Everyone is thrilled.
Nicole stands on an upside-down stock pot so she can see into the oven. She's not up next, it was just super cute. Sara and Tom (shepherd's pie): shepherd's pie with lamb dust, pea gel, pea puree, fresh peas, and lamb stock infused carrots. It looks very fancy. Also it looks like there are little twice-baked potatoes. It's modern and creative, but not too far away from shepherd's pie. Gail says it's maybe a little overseasoned.
May and Dale (Scotch egg): Thai-style Scotch egg with Thai sausage, crispy salad, cilantro aioli, and Thai fish sauce dressing. The eggs are not crispy enough, although the eggs themselves are perfectly soft-boiled. While the salad is fine, it's not good enough to overcome failing on cooking the eggs.
Nicole and Charbel (Sunday roast): pork tenderloin with leek fondue, celeriac potatoes, glazed carrots, and Yorkshire pudding. They make a point to ask who made the Yorkshires, because without them the dish isn't really a roast dinner. It's just a nice meal. Sunday roast has to be greasy I guess. The Yorkshire pudding is a redeeming factor.
Overall the chefs have done well. See I wanted more like, Thai sausage Scotch eggs. Spanish bangers and mash. You know? The chefs hang out and Luciana says it's hard because British people take their pub food very seriously and you can't mess with it. Is that why people mostly didn't go crazy?
Padma collects Dale, May, Luciana, Buddha, Amar, Ali, Gabri, and Begoña The top two teams are Luciana and Buddha, and Gabri and Begoña Begoña is about to cry, because a kitchen is about teams. Neither she nor Gabri know anything about bangers and mash, and the plates didn't look like it either, but the flavors were perfect. It felt right. Buddha says they've both had fish pie, and their dish was the same: it doesn't look right at all, but it tastes right. Luciana wanted all the components, but in a different way, like pickling onions. The winning team is Buddha and Luciana. Luciana thinks their dish won because they respect each other.
Padma says they enjoyed all the dishes, but it will come down to cookery. Dale says it was his decision to cut the eggs in half before service. The eggs were perfect, but the sausage coating wasn't crispy and should have been cooked longer. May throws Dale under the bus and says she wanted to deconstruct the dish. Maybe put something else crunchy on the plate. Dale says “we didn't talk about deconstructing though”. Padma drops it and moves on to Ali and Amar. They were happy with their dish, and then Ali says that after listening to the judges, he gets why they might be there. I guess implying that since the top two teams deconstructed their dishes, maybe they should have also deconstructed their dish. Tom interrupts and says they're there because the batter on the fish wasn't crispy. Not because they didn't deconstruct it. The fries were good though. Amar says it was crispy when they tested it. The judges tell them that whole eggs in the batter makes it cakey and that's probably the problem.
Ali is embarrassed for being in the bottom. He's pissed, you can tell. Padma says at least the chips were good, even if the fish wasn't crispy. And the fish itself was fine. Dale and May's salad and egg were great, but the sausage coating wasn't crunchy. Both dishes lacked the crunch, which is the whole point of those dishes.
Both teams are in the bottom for basic technique. One dish was less successful, and that's May and Dale's dish. Boo. I liked them both. Dale's not thrilled to go home for something as “stupid” as a Scotch egg. May is sad because she didn't show them all her talent. She's still proud she made it here.
Next week: the Tottenham Hotspurs stadium, some kind of team thing? Gabri says he doesn't do sports but he likes the players, probably some drama.
Last Chance Kitchen: Dale believes they just made a good dish, not a great dish, so that's why they went home. He then says he doesn't hold it against May, which is hilarious because once he lost the argument to not do Scotch eggs, he got super bossy and told her he didn't want to go home so let's just be safe. He thinks he wasn't aggressive enough. May is just focused on LCK and getting through that.
Dawn is shocked to see May because her flavor profiles are “dope” and then she has the balls to call Dale's congee “bland and mushy”. When your congee was way undercooked? OK. Dale says he knew it wasn't a winning dish, while May says if she could make it she'd do better. Heh. Tom calls Gail out, to double the judges. So they are letting two people through tonight. I guess eventually they'll get rid of one more and go back down to one person, but sure. Gail unveils the dish for the evening, which is Welsh rarebit. It's basically thick toast with cheese sauce. May has never even heard of this. I feel like this designed to screw May, which I don't like. Rarebit is Gail's very favorite pub dish ever. Use this as a jumping off point, but you should be able to tell your dish started as rarebit.
30 minutes to cook. Samuel is here to be the peanut gallery. May focuses on the cheese, because she feels that's what makes the dish taste good. Dale is going to make what he would have made on his own? Dawn says “I'm making something that goes well with cheddar which is kimchi”. Sure. She's thinking grilled cheese, which isn't terrible. May wants red wine, because Tom said something about soaking the bread in red wine. Dale has some random shit, but this makes Dawn uneasy because I guess she thinks she covered everything, but he has things she doesn't. Someone asks May what kind of bread she's using, and she has to go back and get some because she forgot. Dale is making bechamel. May is going to deconstruct everything and then bring it back together somehow.
Tom and Gail Time! Gail asks what Thai bar food is like, and May says spicy stuff, not cheese. Dawn hasn't made rarebit, but she knows what beer cheese is. Dale has asparagus, shallots...who knows. He doesn't know what kind of cheese he has, just that it tastes good. Gail giggles about how stressful walkthroughs are.
Dale wants something upscale. Samuel has never had rarebit and he is not interested in rarebit. Heh. May has a beer and mustard foam. There is a lot of frantic plating. Dawn is like “Dale doesn't have bread and May put her dish in a bowl! You don't serve rarebit in a bowl!” and I was about to yell at the TV but then she says she might have it wrong. So she's being weird about it, but then instead of being superior, she's second-guessing herself. I don't know. I do want to know how cooking is over and there are still five minutes.
May: rarebit with beer foam, port wine chili lillies, and tomato. I have no idea what chili lillies are. Dawn: rarebit with kimchi and cheddar cream. Dale: rarebit with cream cheese, asparagus, roasted mushrooms, red wine mustard shallot reduction, and chives. It's hard to make a dish you've never heard of, and I don't think they let them taste it either. May and Dawn have bread cubes and sauce, while Dale has vegetables and sauce and bread crumbs. Tom and Gail discuss, and then return to give critiques. May's smoked cheese came through, and the foam was bitter but it worked. The kimchi and cheese go together, and Dawn's dish was fun. Dale still used breadcrumbs, so there was bread in there, and it had cheese flavor. The winner was the most creative, and that is Dale. The judges least favorite dish was Dawn. Phew. Aside from the kimchi and cheese, it just didn't work. Gail says the kimchi was too powerful. You know what, Dawn is probably good at making food in her restaurant, and she's clearly not good at timed gimmick challenges on TV. May is glad she has another chance, but afraid she won't be good enough. Dale knows he can keep winning.
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