Previously on “Top Chef”: the Quickfire was working with preserved fish, which no one really had a ton of trouble with? Amar won, even though he didn't know what he was doing for most of the challenge. He was given extra time in the Elimination challenge, which was to make a thali of Indian food. You didn't have to make Indian food, but you had to include a variety of flavors. A lot of work and some people don't know anything about Indian food. Amar managed to win again, which is very nice and I like seeing him do well. Victoire couldn't keep up with the spices, and while the other two in the bottom managed to provide at least one excellent dish, nothing she made was very impressive so Victoire was eliminated. (click for more)
In Last Chance Kitchen, Victoire and Charbel made dishes with three of the six flavors, except in the regular episode they used “hot” as one of the flavors and in LCK they used “astringent”. Anyway, Victoire's dish was too sweet and so Charbel moved on.
Buddha says he's done a lot of challenges, of course he's going to screw one up at some point. Gabri has been in the bottom five times and survived every time. He wants the money to build a farm.
In the morning Buddha gets a phone call home. Turns out his wife is trying to get pregnant. They have a generic conversation that tells us nothing.
Padma is waiting for the top six with Andrew Wong. She also has a dishwasher, just sitting in the middle of the floor next to her. We talk about water conservation and how you can tell it not to rinse and save water. Something about steaming. Make a dish with “a steamed element”, also all the water must fit in this pot. It's just a regular stock pot. Oh, that pot has to fit EVERYONE'S water. All six. You get $10,000 of product placement money if you win.
30 minutes. Amar jokes that he never steams anything. Sara yells that everyone gets maybe 2.5 cups of water. Looks like a lot of steamed fish. Gabri makes the fastest adobo ever. Tom makes balls of scallop mousse to steam. Amar never makes dumplings, but he eats a lot of them. Sara wants to burn something for flavor and not use steam. She wants to use Asian ingredients and see where she ends up. Ali says using banana leaves will add some moisture to his fish. Amar is trying to make potstickers. Ali can't check his fish by unwrapping the whole thing. Sara feels like this dish isn't her at all.
Gabri: sole and mussel mixiote with adobo and lime pickled onions. Mixiote is a BBQ kind of dish. Buddha: seafood hotpot with black vinegar and shaoxing sauce. Sara: five spice steamed cabbage with tofu puree and steamed scallops. Ali: steamed sea bass in banana leaves with bell pepper, chili, and ginger sauce. Tom: scallop mousse with chorizo and chorizo oil. Amar: steamed and pan-fried pork dumplings with beet tuile. Amar is already giggling, and he says he's dead because he's made dumplings for the dumpling master. Padma is like “you decided to do that on your own, so it's your funeral” and everyone giggles.
Sara forced her dish to be Asian and it suffered. Tom's mousse was wet? A weird texture. Also Amar had dry filling, and they nail him for steaming and then frying afterwards. Gabri's adobo turned out delicious, Buddha's fish turned out perfectly. We don't get to hear about Ali at all. Buddha wins so he's overly pleased with himself again.
Padma makes everyone go stand in one group, and then says that “the battle has just begun.” Then she starts talking about beef wellington. It's a pretty common, basic culinary school dish, but most of them have been out of school for a while. Padma wants three wellington dishes. One seafood, one meat, and one dessert. Serving 25 diners plus the judges, and everyone is voting on each round. Oh and that's a lot of work so it's a team challenge. Amar and Sara, Gabri and Buddha, Ali and Tom. They don't have to be traditional wellingtons (I mean...dessert wellington). Then Padma says it's double elimination. I've seen a lot about how late in the season it is for a double elimination, but I also saw someone speculate that since the last episode mentioned the Queen's death, that maybe they're trying to hurry up and get out of the country, so they don't get caught in a shutdown. But they are going shopping and they are cooking for three hours at some restaurant somewhere tomorrow, instead of in the Top Chef Kitchen, so who knows?
Buddha thinks he's made maybe 30 wellingtons, and he has worked for Ramsey. Both he and Tom decide on salmon and beef. Tom points out that this recipe has crepes, which I think go under the mushroom duxelle? It's supposed to soak up juices so the puff pastry doesn't get soggy. Amar and Sara can't remember when they last made a wellington, but at least they both make big flavors so that's good. Tuna, lamb and “apple pie tres leches”. Buddha and Gabri decided on peach melba for dessert, and Ali and Tom are making apples. I'm sad about how the teams shake out because each team has people I don't want to be eliminated. But this season really has been full of people I'm rooting for. Ali has a confessional about how much he wants to win. At Whole Foods they all run straight to the fridge to clean out the puff pastry. Gabri runs up and down the stairs in under a minute to get something they forgot and he dances about it.
Sara calls Kelsey to tell her she's still here and the last girl. I like Kelsey, but also why isn't Sara calling her family? Maybe her family wisely doesn't want to be on TV. Kelsey says “don't fuck it up”.
Three hours to cook. Buddha is making the wellingtons, and Gabri is going to do garnishes and like, the duxelles. I think Tom and Ali are breaking this down the same way, with Tom doing wellingtons. Amar is making all parts of the seafood wellington. Buddha's crepes are garbage so he's going to just give up on them or they might not have anything. Tom points out you can't know if you cooked your protein properly until you open it and by then it's too late. Sara makes sponge cake, a thin one, so they can wrap it around apples and then inside filo dough. Buddha is getting bossy, which I'm sure shocks no one. Tom describes the layers of his seafood wellington, and then says everything has to be cold or the puff pastry just melts. Feels like foreshadowing.
Tom Time! And he's brought the guest judge, Kirk Westaway. Sara and Amar tell them there is no “lining” for their seafood wellington, and then they can tell by Tom's reaction that he thinks this is a bad idea. Amar immediately starts making crepes. Ali offers tastes of orange blossom custard. Buddha acts like he loves doing wellingtons. Sure. When they leave, everyone says bye and Gabri is like “nice to meet you chef, you're handsome.” Hee. Tom and Kirk shittalk everyone, like, hopefully Amar and Sara can get their crepes done, because everything has to rest. Tom and Ali have solid, classic flavors, and Buddha is on top of everything.
Tom starts talking about Tomb Raider. Like when you're running and stuff is falling down behind you. Buddha is testing his wellingtons with a cake tester, which is essentially a thin metal rod or needle, that you stick in a cake so you'd see if it's still wet or there are crumbs. In a piece of meat you can see how hot the inside is, although it's not perfect. They don't really draw attention to it but the way to do this is to touch the metal to your lip and see how hot it is, and it looks like that's what he's doing. More than once, so not the most sanitary, but also I'm sure how it's really done in most kitchens. The peach wellingtons look like individual portions, and Tom and Ali looks the same.
The judges arrive and Padma wants the dirt on who looked like they were in the weeds. Pretty much everyone. Everyone is slicing open the wellingtons and praying they're good. Amar declares his wellington soigne. Buddha also is thrilled. The judges do comment that they all look well cooked.
Sara and Amar: tuna and seafood wellington with asparagus puree and sauce americaine. Ali and Tom: salmon wellington with leek duxelles, charred leeks, cauliflower puree. Gabri and Buddha: salmon wellington with shrimp pate, beurre blanc with salmon caviar and Robuchon potato puree. Gabri and Buddha's wellington is great but the potatoes are pretty rich and greasy. Robuchon potato puree is just Joel Robuchon's mashed potato recipe. Tom and Ali had good vegetables, which are good complements, but the whole thing is underseasoned and I think something is gummy? Sara and Amar really went for it in terms of difficulty, and then I think they made spinach crepes which are a good contrast. But someone says sauce americaine doesn't go with tuna. Sauce americaine is onions, tomatoes, wine, brandy, cayenne, butter, and fish stock. I guess? Padma expected at least one disaster and there wasn't anything that bad.
Sara and Amar have a brief discussion about putting their lamb back in the oven, but they assume it's done (mostly Amar says leave it out) and then when they slice it open it's too rare. But you can't really put it back in at that point (and it's possible they're out of time either way) so their solution is to put the sauce directly on top? Are you thinking you'll hide it because they're going to find out eventually.
Sara and Amar: harissa-rubbed lamb wellington with date and black garlic puree. Ali and Tom: beef wellington with onion puree, roasted carrots, and red wine jus. Gabri and Buddha: dry-aged beef wellington with truffle demi-glace, pickled beetroot. and foie gras. Ali and Tom really cooked the beef well, and had the crispiest pastry, but there was maybe too much mushroom duxelles and the onion puree needs seasoning. Also Buddha and Gabri had better beef, and they like the beets. Sara and Amar had great spices, that blended with the date sauce, but the meat is too undercooked.
Back in the kitchen there is a lot of liquid nitrogen happening. Amar says they have to nail it, after their lamb was rare. It looks like no major disasters on this course. Sara and Amar: apple pie tres leches wellington with apple puree and spiced crème anglaise. Ali and Tom: apple wellington with chestnut duxelles, apple butter sauce, and orange blossom vanilla sauce. Gabri and Buddha: peach melba wellington with almond frangipane, raspberry sorbet, and tonka bean crème anglaise. Tonka beans kind of taste like vanilla? And frangipane is almond custard. Ali and Tom's feels rustic but delicious, and the pastry is great. Gail loves the orange blossom. Sara and Amar froze their crème anglaise, so it looks like Dippin Dots. It's good, but Tom kind of sighs that it doesn't “tick the boxes” of a wellington. Because it has filo dough. Buddha and Gabri's had a lot of effort, and everyone seems to love it.
The judges wander around to ask selected diners what they liked. Of course they find people who loved different people. It's like after the Fashion Week show on Project Runway where they find someone to say something nice about each finalist. So it doesn't really do anything.
Judges' Table. Tom praises everyone for doing a pretty good job and not serving any disasters. But the best team today is Buddha and Gabri. Oh no that means either Amar or Ali is eliminated! Boo. They basically rave about everything and how peach melba wellington is amazing and should be a thing. The diners also gave them the most votes.
Sara and Amar put sauce americaine with their seafood, and it didn't match the tuna. Ali and Tom didn't season their cauliflower puree, and then they also put xanthan gum, which ruined the texture. The lamb was a good creative course, but it was rare for sure. Ali and Tom had cooked their beef well, but the onion puree was tacky somehow. Sara and Amar wanted to be creative, so there was filo dough and not puff pastry. The apples were not mushy, which Padma liked a lot. Ali and Tom had homey flavors and it's like your grandmother would make for Sunday roast. Is this a complement or an insult? No one seems to know for sure.
So Amar and Sara's tuna seems to be voted better than Ali and Tom's salmon, for seasoning and weird textures. They also had better flavors with their lamb, but the raw lamb is a huge problem. And that's the only course with inconsistent protein. Tom is still kind of irritated about the filo dough not really being a wellington, but Kirk disagrees.
Sara and Amar are sent home. Yeah, at this point, raw protein is really not acceptable. Tom says it's the LCK finale so they could be right back here. Sara knows it's a great achievement to have made it this far, but it still sucks. Amar says LCK is how he made the finale of his season so he's ready.
Next week: someone comes back to the competition, trompe-l'oeil dishes, what seems to be a lot of fancy chemistry. Trompe-l'oeil usually refers to the illusion of 3D on a 2D surface. So I'm not sure what it means when you already have a 3D surface.
Last Chance Kitchen: This is labeled “Finale Part 1”, so who knows. Amar reminds us that he won LCK his season and returned, so he hopes that happens again. Sara is not ready to go home. Also she'd really like for a woman to be present in this competition. When Amar sees Charbel he just laughs. If you recall, all three of them were on the same team when Charbel went home. Tom then tells everyone this was the hardest challenge he's ever seen. It's time for the Last Chance Kitchen Finale. It is time for meat pies. At least two proteins, in puff pastry. Also your meat must be hand chopped or hand ground. Charbel jokes he's too young for hand grinders. Heh.
45 minutes to cook. Two people move on. Charbel is making surf and turf, and Sara has seafood also. Everyone is thinking about the gravy in the pie. Amar says shrimp and duck hearts. Sara is making gumbo pot pie, a thing I would totally order. Sara is trying to grind bacon but the friction melts all the fat so she's struggling. Charbel is also struggling because he's trying to grind one chunk at a time. It's not going well.
Tom Time! Amar is using filo again, and he says a bunch of stuff and then says “French onion soup”...which is cheese. Oops. They laugh about how it puffs up right? Sure. Charbel seems to have a solid plan, or at least Tom has nothing to say. Sara believes she has time to make her pot pie. She's relaxed. Tom goes to the peanut gallery to fill them in, and Dale starts talking about how using sausage in the gumbo is a great way to bring in flavor, and Sara starts yelling across the kitchen, “What's he saying?!” Heh.
Sara knows her pie needs about 15 minutes to bake so she's got to get done in time. Charbel is making little mini pies, and he thinks he's doing something wrong because Sara and Amar both put their filling in a bowl or dish and covered it with dough. He has made little raviolis with a top and bottom crust. Everyone gets their pies in the oven and then makes more sauce. Sara thinks her pies are the right temperature to take out of the oven and rest. Everyone gets done in time.
Charbel: beef and lobster pie with beef jus. It's the size of an Uncrustable, while the other two are big bowls. Sara: gumbo pot pie with kielbasa and shrimp. Amar: shrimp and duck heart pot pie. Tom is struggling. He give everyone a bunch of praise. The best pie belongs to Sara. She says it's her first solo win. Amar is out. Aww. His pastry is too thin. I love Amar. I'm glad for Charbel and Sara but I like Amar a lot. This is hard too because I don't want to see Charbel OR Sara go. Tom says time for part two right now.
Ugh, now I have to do another one. Tom wants to see what they learned from their time here. Three dishes from each of them: the worst dish they cooked this season (fix it), their favorite thing they've eaten here in the UK (put a spin on it), and show what you learned here. Oh and also only an hour to do it. Charbel says “I get it, but chill out guys”. They get to pick sous chefs now. Sara heard “chefs” plural so she's thrilled. She picks first and takes Nicole. Charbel takes Dale, then Sara takes Sylwia and Charbel takes Amar so it's girls vs. boys. Victoire gets to chill I guess. Nicole is fast and Sylwia has great sauce work. Dale is also fast and Amar has been crushing it. This should be interesting. Oh also Gail is here. Gail asks what about Victoire? Tom asks her to judge with them. Immediate jokes about sending everyone home. Heh.
OK so Sara starts with filling in the girls about what she's making, and both Nicole and Sylwia are putting their hair up in ponytails with almost exactly the same set of motions and visually it's a great shot. Charbel is remaking one of his Quickfire fails, his onion dish from the first challenge, and I think a dessert. Sara is remaking some kind of steamed cabbage. I think the last Quickfire? She says something about bacon jus and Sylwia is all “no problem”. Second dish is fish and chips and the third dish is hard to think of because she's still in the thick of things. It's hard to tell where you're going when you're still going. Sara almost immediately gets rid of the monkfish because it smells off. She decides on harissa succotash for the third dish, something familiar but with new flavors. Amar and Charbel laugh about his onion dish, and it reminds Charbel to have Dale put pomegranate molasses in there. Dale is asking a million questions but I think it's to make sure he does what Charbel wants. Sara can't find green chilis for her harissa.
Tom and Gail Time! Sara describes her dishes, and Tom points out her fish in the fish and chips isn't battered, but it is going to have chips. Otherwise they don't have a lot to say. It might just be Tom trying to psych her out. Charbel says his third dish is without processed sugar because that's where we're going in the future. Sure. Sara is charring cabbage, instead of steaming, and it's burnt. Really burnt, but that's what she wants. Also super smooth pea puree. Nicole and Sylwia are also asking a million questions the way Dale is, and Sara wants them to just do things. She keeps saying “I trust you”. Honestly I get why everyone is asking questions, because no one wants to ruin it for someone else. Charbel says he knows Dale knows how to cook, maybe better than Charbel himself, but he has the perfect sous chef mentality. The cabbage is burnt but Sara says it's perfect. Lots of frantic plating.
Sara: cured and burnt cabbage with apple puree and bacon jus. It's a redo of her steamed cabbage I think from this last episode. They really like it, especially the sauce. Charbel: salmon with mushrooms and zucchini. I think this is his first Quickfire in the first episode. It's a little underseasoned, but cooked well.
Charbel: roasted onion with pomegranate molasses puree, chicken jus, and chicken skin. The chicken skin is a great texture, but Gail thinks maybe it's too sweet now. Sara: elevated fish and chips: cod wrapped in prosciutto, pea puree, and potato croquette. The flavor is fantastic, but Tom wants more tartar sauce flavor.
Sara: salmon with green harissa succotash. Tom doesn't taste any harissa though. It's good but not the influence she wanted. Charbel: date and honey compote with passionfruit and berries. Gail loves it.
Oh did you think they would say who won? You fool. You'll wait until next week and you'll like it.
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