FIRST ROUND OF FINALS (4 contestants left)
Brian, Dale, Casey and Hung arrive in Aspen/Snowmass. They are taken to a hot air balloon and enjoy champagne, but this is TopChef so you know that it is not just a ride for the view. The balloonist sets them down by the Frying Pan River where a rudimentary outdoor kitchen has been set up. The Guest Judge is Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin, a seafood expert. Each chef has a frying pan, camp stove, supply of trout, and supply of ingredients to create a dish. They have 20 minutes to do so. This is fraught with problems, as Brian loses an entire pan of fish that were not cooking right. The dishes presented are:
Brian - trout cooked in rendered fat, trout egg, red pepper, brown buter, salad
Casey - trout with grapes and corn
Dale - filet of trout with cayenne seasoning, bacon, apple, fennel and bourbon
Hung - filet of trout (supposed to be with lemon juice, but he is overcofident and forgets it) with sauteed mushrooms
Hung finished 7 minutes early. Hung states that his skillet techniques are "much more refined" and that he wants to win for his father who brought him to the U.S. from VietNam.
Eric finds that Brian did not season his salad.
He decided that Cale's cayenne seasoning was not appopriate.
It's between very good dishes from Casey and Hung. Eric decides that Cacsey has "soul" and gives her the win. It soon turns out that this allows Casey to use some of her $200 worth of special ingredients if she chooses to. Casey elects to save them for the final Final round. Hung says "I tried Casey's dish. My dish was more refined." He doesn't get that he has no soul, which even Eric Ripert can see (or more likely has been told be Tom Colicchio).
The Chefs are staying at the Hotel Jerome. For those who have been to Aspen, you know that it is the most celebrated accomodations in town. I don't know precisely, but I guess $400 a night in the offseason. It also still (I think) hosts a musical review performance of the singing waiters, talented musicians who wait tables and perform so they can ski.
The chefs are taken to the Moon Run Ranch and told that they are catering a rodeo cookout for 45 cowboys and cowgirls plus the judges. They are taken to the Aspen Meadows Resort where they get 3 hours prep and cook time, but first they learn that their protein is elk meat. Viewers later learn that cauliflower and potatoes and corn are the vegetables available.
Brian - whiskey-braised elk shank, pancetta corn, asparagus relish, blackberry/huckleberry sauce, blackberry and sage butter, choice of Gorgonzola or Gruyere cheese
Dale - cauliflower and potatoes with dried cherry, herb salad, spice-rubbed seared elk loin
Casey - mushroom crusted loin of elk, smoked tomato butter, cauliflower duo, corn sprout, poached pear
Hung - seared elk loin, pommes boulongere, chocolate red wine sauce
Dale was forced to reformulate when his planned onion and goat cheese tart was not going well.
Hung finishes 12 minutes early. He deliberately does not offer to help any of the others, since he believes in survival of the fittest.
Gail states that Brian took 25 minutes to explain his dish to her. It is clearly no compliment.
At Judges Table, Eric summarizes overall by stating that the dishes were delicious.
Eric liked Dale's best with the huckleberry sauce. Dale tells him that it was a huckleberry/blackberry sauce.
Tom said that Hung's dish suffered from seasonal disorder.
Padma said Brian's shank was excellent and she liked the cheese choice.
Eric strongly disgreed, particularly on the cheese choice. He said that Brian should ahve made that decision for his guests and picked the better fit.
Eric used the words "black and blue"(meaning too rare) to refer to Casey's elk. He did state that her smoked tomato sauce was amazing.
Dale admitted to controlled chaos with many ingredients.
Tom said that Casey's chunks of cauliflower did not go well with her puree.
Hung thought he had given diners something different. Tom did not agree and said that he did not see anything of Hung in this food.
Brian was taken to task for his huge list of ingredients.
Dale was the consensus chocie as the winner. He gets to go to Grand Cayman with Eric and be part of a joint demo there.
It was a close and interesting choice on who would go home, as only one would. Instead of just 2 final Finalists, there will be 3 this year, due to the quality of the competition acording to Tom.
It could have been any of the other 3, but Brian was chosen for elimination. If 2 were eliminated I think Casey would also have been selected, as she was a little shaky on the Elimination Challenge. Her win in the Quickfire prevented her from going tonight. I have seen that several times in thsi competition. A person losing the Quickfire freqeuntly is the one chosen to be eliminated when there is a close vote.
