photo: bravo
Top Chef
Giving it the College Try
Original Air Date: Dec 18, 2013
Ryan O – Associate Editor
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com
In the Quickfire, the chefs have to cook drumsticks. Questlove from The Roots is there but doesn’t get much screen time.
In the Elimination, the chefs have to cook lunch for 500. Things are starting to get a little personal for a few chefs.
Quickfire
Questlove of The Roots is in the kitchen with Padma. He says there’s no limit to the quest for good food. Then a drum line marches in, because, sure. They lead in a table full of drumsticks.
They have 30 minutes to make a dish with any of the drumsticks. Padma announces it’s first come, first served with regards to who gets which kind of drumstick. This causes a near riot. Nicholas tries to make it a big deal that he helped Shirley up when she fell and then she took the drumsticks he wanted. Well, he might’ve been partly responsible for her going over in the first and she was there first so she should get her choice. Plus, I don’t like Nicholas.
And, god, can everyone stop saying, “protein”? It’s meat. Say, “meat.” No one is grabbing tofu drumsticks or bean drumsticks. It’s meat.
Nina is making jerk drumsticks. She’s worried about it being too spicy.
Justin is going to knock his drummettes out the park, so don’t worry about him.
Nicholas reminds us that Carlos is self-taught, so there’s things he doesn’t know.
Here’s what they made.
Carrie: Squab legs marinated in thyme, juniper and cocoa powder with fig mostrada
Brian: Chicken soup, chicken skin crackling with parsley and Thai basil
Shirley: Crispy duck leg with Szechuan chile salt and mint
Nina: Jerked Guinea hen charred with juniper berries and Scotch bonnet peppers
Stephanie: Fried and grilled turkey leg with sriracha and sour cream buttermilk dressing
Nicholas: Twice-fried quail legs with sesame sauce rolled in gomaiso (a Japanese spice mix made from unhulled sesame seeds)
Justin: Chicken drumettes with smoked aioli, herb salad, and sorghum vinaigrette
Carlos: Fried goose leg with cranberries and apple salad
Bottom
Nicholas: Too much salt
Justin: Not creative enough
Carlos: A bit overcooked and it hard bone shards
Top
Carrie: Cooked perfectly, good fig jam
Nina: Not too spicy
Brian: Crunch even though it was soup
Carrie wins!
Elimination Challenge
Freshman orientation is happening at Louisiana State University. The cheftestants will be cooking lunch in the dining hall for 500 of them and serving it cafeteria style.
The winner gets a car.
This will surprise you: after they pile into cars to drive to LSU, Nicholas is driving. Because he’s the best driver.
When they get to the kitchen, guess who yells, “GUYS! We have to talk about stations before we touch anything!”
There’s some back and forth between Shirley and Carlos about who will get a particular station. Shirley called it well before Carlos but he insists on having it so he can cook fish.
Nicholas “marks his oven.”
Shirley ends up with the wood-burning oven. She’s not pleased.
Tom shows up and checks on the chefs. Carlos tells him he’s going to cook the fish on the flat top grill and then put it in the oven.
During service, Carlos needs an oven to cook his fish. Nicholas “needs” an oven to keep his plates warm. Ugh.
Gail, Emeril, Tom, and Padma show up.
Here’s what they made.
Shirley: Roast beef with potato puree and fire-roasted tomato relish
Nina: Fried chicken with sweet corn puree and pickled onions
Brian: Shrimp cake and spinach with chipotle aioli
Gail likes that Brian’s shrimp cake has pieces of shrimp that are big enough that you know they’re shrimp. That’s not exactly the strongest compliment ever, is it? Padma likes Shirley’s tomato relish. Gail thinks her roast beef is cooked to the right doneness.
Nicholas: Roasted pork, parmesan grits, and bacon brown sugar gravy
Tom thinks Nina should’ve fried her chicken twice instead of just once; the breading is falling off. He thinks there’s not a lot flavor her corn puree. Tom says Nicholas’s pork could be seasoned better but likes his bacon gravy.
Carrie: Broccoli salad with herbed yogurt sauce and pita bread (if you guessed that there’s no line at Carrie’s station, then you know college kids)
Justin: Marinated Gulf shrimp, cauliflower, asparagus, and garlic puree
Gail says there’s not a lot of flavor in Justin’s dish. Padma was happy Carrie gave them vegetables but Gail expected a little more at this point in the show.
Stephanie: Spicy tomato soup with pimento cheese sandwich
Carlos: (Carlos tells Tom and Emeril that Nicholas “stole” his oven, which is why he’s a bit slow): Seared tilapia with chile ancho and Mexican coleslaw
Despite the slowness of the service, Tom and Emeril like Carlos’s dish. Emeril thinks it has a nice spiciness. Tom likes Stephanie’s soup but he didn’t like that Stephanie put the grilled cheese partly in the soup because that means you end up with a soggy sandwich.
By the way, Nicholas “cooks with a lot of integrity.” Just so you know. You know what? Keeping an oven from someone so you can keep your plates warm? Not a lot of integrity.
Judges Table
The screen pops on and we see the judges talking. Padma says Brian’s croquette was very nice. Gail liked it and liked the spinach salad, too. Emeril liked Shirley’s roast beef and how she used the wood oven. Tom didn’t like that it took 15 minutes to get Carlos’s food. There’s consensus that Stephanie made a mistake putting the sandwich in the soup. Gail liked the idea of Justin’s dish but didn’t like the actual dish. She thought the puree had almost no flavor. Tom thought the dish was bland. When Emeril had Nina’s fried chicken, the breading fell off. Plus, she ran out of corn. Tom says that if Carrie didn’t have immunity, she’d be on the bottom.
Shirley, Brian, and Carlos go see the judges. They have the best dishes.
Carlos said everything went smoothly. Tom said the fish was well-cooked.
Emeril says the spinach salad made Brian’s dish.
Tom said the meat in Shirley’s dish was perfectly season and perfectly cooked.
Shirley wins the car!
Stephanie, Nina, and Justin go see the judges. They have the worst dishes. (My guess is that Stephanie is going home.)
Nina gets criticism for both running out of corn and for the corn itself. Padma says the students who didn’t get the corn had a better dish. Emeril says the first batch of corn was better since his corn was pretty good.
Gail would’ve dialed back the cottage cheese in the sandwich. And putting the sandwich in soup made it disintegrate.
Justin says, “with all due respect to [his] fellow chefs, but [he] could’ve easily knocked out a shrimp roll and crushed it.” He tried to cook the food he usually cooks.
They leave.
Tom says that Nina running out corn was a big deal. Justin cooked a bland plate of food. Stephanie’s soup was good. The sandwich wasn’t good.
They return.
Justin is out.
Last Chance Kitchen
Louis vs. Justin
The challenge is to make a dish using ingredients native to the other’s home. So, Louis has to make a dish with ingredients from New Orleans and Justin has to make a dish with ingredients from Northern California.
Here’s what they made.
Justin: Grilled sardine with roasted corn and sherry vinaigrette
Louis: Redfish almondine with corn puree and crawfish sauce
Tom liked both dishes a lot but says Justin’s sardine was a little on the dry side. Louis wins.
What did you find to be tasty in this episode? Did you think anything was overdone? Give us your Two Cents below!