Previously on “Top Chef”: it was Restaurant Wars time! They let the contestants take over a pre-existing restaurant with a trained waitstaff and FOH leaders, which I think was amazing. No more cater waiters. But apparently there are a lot of people who really wanted them to have to do décor and force someone to be FOH. But that stuff never matters and why not let professionals do it? Of course Buddha showed up with a concept already in mind and his team easily won with superior food. He won individually, again, of course, because he made two dishes and he knows what he's doing. Nicole made pasta ahead of time and then ended up in the weeds (possibly because she refused to make more than 6 dishes at a time) so she was sent home. (click for more)
In Last Chance Kitchen, Tom tries to roast Nicole about how their restaurant was “Root” and they didn't have root vegetables, but there was an interview the next day that says someone did suggest that and it was scrapped for some reason, and the show edited out all mention of the topic. Anyway, Nicole and Charbel had to both make pasta and use root vegetables. Nicole's dish ended up too salty so she was eliminated.
Victoire is upset because Nicole was the first person she met on this show and she misses her. She wants to win and get the money to start a culinary school in Africa. Buddha is cocky as he usually is.
In the morning Ali and Amar lay on one bed and chit chat about the competition. Amar is having imposter syndrome. He doesn't seem like it but he clearly knows what he's doing. Is it foreshadowing? Who knows.
In the kitchen there is a whole table of smoked fish. Sara is thrilled. The guest judge is Tom Brown, who owns a Michelin-starred restaurant here. The Quickfire challenge is about kippers, or actually preserved fish. I thought kippers were a fish, but apparently “kippering” is the process and the fish itself is herring. So obviously make a dish with “preserved fish”. Some are smoked but some are dried or salted. No immunity anymore, but you will get an “advantage” in the Elimination challenge.
30 minutes to cook. There's some fighting for things but Amar and Sara just kind of wander up and find something. You will have to balance some strong salt or strong smoke flavors. Tom asks about salt, and Ali is like, why would you get salt to put on salted fish? Gabri says “dehydrated prawn tuile”. Sure. Buddha grates some cheese, and then says he's making carbonara but with onion instead of pasta. I don't know, he has weird ideas. Amar is just kind of doing stuff so he has no idea what will happen. Tom says that when he had immunity he made the worst dish so he's not that upset it's off the table. Sara says she's doing something based on SMAK, which is Smoked Mackerel Albacore and Kingfish. Something from Florida. Victoire feels at home with smoked fish. Gabri somehow both burns his tuile and finds it soggy. Amar still doesn't really know what he's doing.
Ali: taramasalata puree, tomato salad and potatoes with dried scallops and Scandinavian fish. I think taramasalata is Greek fish roe dip. Victoire: buckling fish with squash salad and bread. Tom: smoked trout milk with chopped potato, fish salt and sweet smoked scallops. Gabri: warm endive salad with smoked fish hollandaise and prawn tuile. Amar: smoked haddock salad with cucumber, potato, smoked scallop, and roasted pepper emulsion. Sara: smoked fish dip with celery seed toast and sweet hot sauce. Buddha: onion carbonara with kippers and smoked haddock sauce.
Sara's dip was too salty, and Gabri's tuile was not crispy enough. Buddha somehow did really well? With cheese and fish? Amar had a great balance and didn't cook the haddock. Ali had bright tomatoes and it was light. The winner is Amar. He says this is his first solo Quickfire win.
Padma says now she's really excited, which causes several people to curse nervously. She wants to take them on a field trip, and she promises they won't need their knife kits. In the car Buddha seems to have heard of the restaurant they're going to, which is Indian. Amar knows that means cooking Indian food, so now they're all nervous.
They go in and everyone has their notebooks with them which is hilarious. The chef Asma Khan comes out to say hello and Victoire is immediately gobsmacked and in awe. Aww. The food arrives and it is served in thalis. These are the round metal trays that have a bunch of smaller round dishes or tins inside, each with its own dish. Everyone has what looks like 8 dishes, rice and curries and side dishes, and some naan folded up in there. She has to tell them it's one thali per person, because the first one got put in the center of the table family style. Victoire is still starstruck. Padma explains that a thali is all the courses of the meal all at once. The chyron tells us it's a special occasion situation. Each thali has all six flavors: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, pungent, and hot. Asma tells them that unlike Western cooking, where the flavors complement each other, the different flavors contrast each other, but still somehow come together. As they eat they all ask questions and take notes. There is beetroot raita and chutney, for sweet, instead of dessert. Victoire hasn't eaten a lot, because she can't handle heat. And she doesn't want to kill her taste buds and not be able to taste anything because she ate too much spicy food. Asma talks about cooking connecting her with home and her family. Sara cries because she misses her kids. Several people talk about food memories.
The Elimination Challenge is to make your own thali. You must have the six flavor profiles, but you don't have to be traditional. 2.5 hours tomorrow to cook and prep, and then serve Indian chefs. Amar gets an extra 30 minutes. Padma then says that they were going to have them cook in another kitchen, but because of the Queen's passing they're just going to stay in the Top Chef kitchen. So if you were wondering when they filmed this season, there you go.
Montage of people leaving flowers at Buckingham Palace and milling around. Sure. No footage of the actual funeral procession or anything, just B-roll of people looking solemn and then spoiler, they're never mentioning it again, at least for this episode.
Amar arrives to the kitchen alone. He's going traditional, but he doesn't have experience so he's going to make sure to taste everything. He also says “You never, ever, cook Indian food for Padma, but here we are.” True. Everyone else comes tearing in. Sara says “Southern but Indian”. Buddha admits that the last time he cooked Indian for Padma it was terrible. Oops. But he's also doing traditional. Gabri says the Indian foods reminded him of Mexican foods so he's going in that direction. Victoire has a bitter soup, and a lot of toasted spices. Amar is very pleased with himself, although he might be in denial. Ali hasn't cooked a lot of Indian food but he's eaten it so maybe that will work. He wants to prove he is well-rounded.
Padma Time! And Asma. Terrifying. Padma tells Victoire not to be afraid of flavor (she's not) and that even if she doesn't like heat, everyone else does and she's cooking for them (yikes). Victoire gets choked up about about it's important for female chefs to exist and be role models, and she gets a hug from Asma. Aww. Tom says that when he used to work on cruise ships, you only get local ingredients so you have to be flexible. Also he's used a thali before, but just as a serving method. I guess they wanted to serve a bunch of dishes together, but there wasn't the sense that it was supposed to all go together. Sara describes her food of maybe Southern food with Indian ingredients? I hope this works.
Someone is burning something, and Gabri discovers the beans he had in a pressure cooker are all burnt. He's going to have to use lentils instead. Victoire is making cucumber and onion salad, and she says that when she had it yesterday, it wasn't seasoned, so she's not going to put any salt in it. But she will salt the rice. Amar puts sweetbreads on a skewer and talks about Floyd Cardoz's restaurant, and how he served tandoori sweetbreads. The judges arrive to the Stew Room, where the table is set up and someone decorated with flowers. Amar says if he wins he's opening an Indian restaurant. He's very cocky today.
Amar: they are listing each dish and what flavors it has, so you can see if the chefs hit all six. Lentils with fenugreek (pungent/bitter); stone fruit chutney (sweet); shrimp and crab curry (heat); green mango raita (sour); basmati rice with nigella seeds (salty); and tandoori sweetbreads (bitter). Amar goes back to the kitchen and jokes that the judges said not to bother, he totally won. Heh. Everyone eats in silence for a while which is a good sign. They love it and they can't believe he has never cooked Indian food before. Each bite changes and this seems to be a very good start.
Ali thinks his chutney, learned from some coworkers, might give him the win. Ali: saffron rice (salty); yellow lentil dal (pungent); eggplant curry (bitter); beef tandoori (heat/pungent); raita (sweet); and mango chutney (sweet/sour). He calls it “Thali by Ali” which is cute. The chutney is great and very Indian. His rice is perfect.
Buddha put too much water in his rice because he doesn't make basmati rice, and it's kind of mushy as he drains it. Buddha: chana dal with tamarind (sour); shrimp koliwada (salty/pungent); snow peas and methi (bitter); date and tamarind chutney (sweet/sour/heat); chicken korai (heat/pungent); and mango, saffron, and coconut pudding (sweet). Padma is missing one of the dishes. Oof. Also they specifically ask about how he cooked the rice. The chutney has too much tamarind, but the pudding is good. Chana is chickpeas, koliwada is a style of sauce with chili paste? Methi is fenugreek, and korai is a style of curry.
Gabri has now burnt his lentils too. Victoire has overcooked her rice but she doesn't have time to do anything else. Victoire: rice with saffron (salty); lamb with coriander (heat); yogurt with mango (sweet); onion and cucumber salad with coriander (pungent); okra with moringa (bitter); and red lentil dal (sour). Padma asks if she seasoned her salad, and she says she didn't because cucumber can clean the palate. The moringa (a bitter herb) is a great contrast to the other dishes, but Tom immediately says the rice is overcooked. The balance of spices is off, because the cucumber onion salad was supposed to be seasoned, and the other dishes have either too much or too little seasoning.
Tom: spiced rice (salty/sweet/pungent); coriander and mint chutney (heat); dal (sour); kakdi koshimbir (salty); chicken masala (bitter/sweet); and gajar ka halwa (sweet). It seems fine, although the dal is weird. I think the spices are raw? Or it's trying to be the main course and it's not? I'm not sure but they're not as mad as they were at Victoire or Buddha. Koshimbir is the cucumber salad, and gajar ka halwa is a carrot pudding.
Gabri is so out of time he was going to make foie gras, but ran out of time to cook it, didn't strain his chutney, didn't do a lot of stuff. Gabri: tamarind and orange chutney (pungent); green mango, cucumber, and passion fruit salsa (sour); scallops with encacahuatado (bitter); coconut tamale (sweet); rice with turmeric and cinnamon (sweet/heat); and fried aubergine (salty). The scallop is weird, but there are good parts to this plate. It's hard to eat the chutney, because it's not strained. Tom knows he ran out of time. Encacahuatado is a peanut sauce.
Sara: dirty rice (salty); tamarind dal (pungent); spiced cauliflower (heat); thunder and lightning (sour/pungent); buttermilk raita (sweet); and persimmon chutney (bitter). The cauliflower is the best tonight. She's done a great job balancing the flavors and bringing in her viewpoint. I think “thunder and lightning” is a Southern version of the cucumber and onion salad.
Judges' Table. Sara, Ali, and Amar are the top three. Sara is initially worried which is cute. She did a great job of matching the new flavors to dishes she knew. Gail loved the dirty rice. Ali's chutney reminded Asma and Padma of the school canteen which is a high complement. The dishes all together blend wonderfully. Amar tells the judges he used up all his tasting spoons. Heh. He had fun with it, and Tom says that's the sign you're nailing it. Amar wins. He is very pleased with himself as he should be. He knows he belongs here.
Buddha, Gabri, and Victoire are the bottom three. There's a random shot of Tom looking slightly pissed he ended up in the middle. Buddha knows he screwed up the rice, and Padma is pissed he forgot a dish on her plate. Amar and Sara do the “white guy blinking” meme and Amar says “that's not Buddha”. He has a point, Buddha is not a contestant who runs out of time or makes big mistakes like forgetting a component. The chutney was also terrible. Gabri explains that he had black beans and they burnt, and the lentils burnt, and the scallop was last minute, and the chutney wasn't strained. He is fully aware he is in the bottom. Victoire tried to balance the spices, but the lamb was tough and the rice was broken. Also too much saffron. Also not seasoning the cucumber, which she looks confused about.
Victoire's rice was terrible. They really dump on some of her dishes, on the seasoning. Buddha's dessert was the best of the day, but Padma is still salty about not getting curry, and the rice was also terrible, and they hate his chutney. Gabri's cucumber salsa was good, even if the rest of his thali was a disaster. Gail points out that Buddha gave them the best dessert, and Gabri gave them the best cucumber, but did Victoire give them anything that was undeniably delicious?
Tom says this is new cuisine, but the mistakes were basic cooking mistakes. Victoire is eliminated. She says it's a beginning, not an ending.
Next week: wellingtons, double elimination, everyone is stressed. Why a double elimination at 6 remaining? Were they just trying to get out of London a few days early to not deal with the Queen's death? Who knows?
Last Chance Kitchen: Victoire says it's like being offered a Coke instead of champagne. Tom says that the winner of this challenge moves on to “Last Chance Kitchen Finale Part 1”. How is this different from any other week, Tom? Someone will win and they'll battle whoever gets eliminated next week and you'll end up with two, and then down to one. Also you already let people back in the competition so this is no different. It's not like she suddenly can get back in and if she'd gone out a week earlier she wouldn't have that chance. Anyway, basic cooking mistakes this week. Tom says the challenge is to revisit those six tastes, but you must balance them all in one dish. You will draw knives, and end up with three tastes. So you're only putting three in one dish. Not six. I rewound it, he said all six in one dish, and then immediately said “draw knives and you will get three flavors to feature in your dish.” Just say three! Jeez. Anyway we have replaced “heat” with “astringent”, I'm assuming because Victoire said she can't handle heat. Charbel has salt, sour, pungent; Victoire has sweet, astringent, bitter.
30 minutes. Nicole says don't salt your dish like I did. Charbel jokes he's going to make salty leeks. The peanut gallery helps everyone find things. Victoire is making red wine sauce. Charbel has fish with spinach. He talks about the balance of ingredients. Victoire is so in the zone that when the peanut gallery tells her her brown sugar is burning, they can barely get her to tell them what's in the pan, and then they tell her it's burning and she...just keeps on chopping like she didn't hear them. She gets white sugar this time, not brown, because she doesn't have time to burn sugar again? I'm not sure what she means.
Tom Time! Victoire describes her dish and I have no idea what she's doing. Tom just looks confused and wanders off. Victoire is confident. Charbel describes his dish, which sounds pretty good. Tom has no comments. He goes back to Victoire, who eventually says she's making a dessert with radicchio. Something tells her to add more astringent things, which might be a mistake. Charbel has decided he has to make chili oil or he's in trouble. Victoire runs to get some cassava flour to put on her dish. Charbel puts some pine nuts on last minute and finally gets his chili oil made.
Charbel: Chilean sea bass with spicy spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and citrus relish. Victoire: radicchio trevisano confit, with red onion and fruit reduction. It looks like trevisano is another name for radicchio, or maybe it's a varietal. Both dishes have the flavors they need. Charbel added some good pungency, and Victoire was running around but her dish works somehow. But balance is the most important thing, and one dish was out of balance. That was Victoire, the sweet part is too sweet. So Charbel moves on. Victoire is going to go home and hug her kids. Charbel is ready to win the whole competition.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment