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Top Chef Season 3

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EPISODE 10

This episode starts with the chefs being theoretically woken up by Padma (do you really believe that they weren't already awake and faking it for the camera?). She gets them to come to their suite kitchen, where 6 Breville blenders and butane burners (what, no product placement?) are waiting along with a cornupcopia of ingredients. It's a Quickfire and each chef has 20 minutes to create a delicious berakfast which Padma will sample and judge. Hung starts by knocking over a bottle of truffle oil onto the floor, spilling it and creating a mess that nobody hsa time to clean up. The creations are:

Brian - lobster and butter poached egg with blackberry/raspberry/banana smoothie

CJ - crepes with a shake of blueberry, dates and mascarpone

Hung - steak and eggs plus a smoothie comprised of papya, bananas and Grand Marnier

Sarah - multigrain French toast with eggs and prosciutto 

Dale - ham, apple, onion fritatta

Casey - French toast with salmon, sunnyside up eggs, spinach, salsa, grapefruit

Hung wins over Sarah because he "used his blender to hit all parts of Padma's palate." His immediate reward is an early copy of Padma's new book "Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet," but you know that a more substantive reward will be forthcoming.

Padma tells the chefs that they will leave Miami in the afternoon, so pack up. She gives Hung the tickets. When they open them, the destination is New York City.  Actually, not quite. It's Newark Airport after a flight on Continental Airlines. Padma meets the plane and announces that they will be staying near Newark Airport overnight and coming back to that airport the next day. The chefs are disappointed as they were looking forward to the Big Apple. They will have to survive an Elimination Challenge before they get there.

The Elimination Challenge is to create an entree with starch and vegetable on an airline tray that fits into the heating system on airplanes. Hung got the advantage of picking a protein which nobody else can pick. They will have 2 hours in the Continental kitchens to assemble and prep 18 trays for the judges plus other frequent travelers. The judges are Jimmy McLoughlin, executive chef of Continental Airlines, and Anthony Bourdain plus Tom and Padma. The frequent travelers turn out to be what looks like a total of 28 Continental Elite flight attendants. A plane inside a hangar is used for the final food prep and serving. It has both rear and front galleys, so 2 chefs will go simultaneously, with half of the flight attendants plus all of the judges getting the trays from each one.

Hung - Chilean sea bass with tomato sauce and onions

CJ - Halibut with broccolini and mint vinaigrette and toasted farro with mint oil (I'll have to find out what farro is, so pardon my ignorance)

Dale - Steak au Poivre with Mushroom DemiGlace and Leeks

Brian - NY strip steak and lobster and potato hash

Casey - Veal Medallions with Cauliflower gratin, crimini sauce and apple brandy

Sarah - Seared Salmon, leek fondue, spinach, fig couscous

Tom visits and states that there is a limited amount of space. He feels that meat is preferred over seafood.
Dale in plating from his trays micsounts and sends out 17 when 18 are needed. This is noted by the Judges Table, but doesn't burn him.
Brian's lobster was rubbery and his hash was "disgusting". He's in trouble.
Hung's dish was good all-around.
Casey's dish was "very sophisticated and creative." You know she is going to win tonight when they say that.
Sarah's salmon was "beyond overcooked" and totally dry; her couscous had no flavor. she's in trouble.
CJ's halibut was OK but his broccolini was "the worst single dish ever in 3 years of this competition." He's in trouble.

Casey was the winner over Hung and Dale(who was lucky to be in that group).
The loser's group was between Sarah, CJ and Dale. CJ was taken down by that "worst dish ever" tag. He should never have allowed that broccolini to go out, a point made by Anthony Bourdain.

I see the final 2 now as being Hung (predicted last week) and Casey (who has emerged from the pack).

TexasLady:
Thanks for the excellent summary. (As always!)  I was so involved with Big Brother I haven't had a chance to watch yet so this is much appreciated.

You're the best apskip!!  :tup:

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EPISODE 11 (5 chefs remaining)

This one had previewed last week as being at the French Culinary Institute. Who would you expect to excel at fine French cuisine? Sara, the cheese maker from Jamaica, Brian the fish guy, Dale the goodness knows what, Casey the Japnese restautant exec chef, or Hung, the sous chef at Guy Savoy one of the finest French restaurants in the world(I ate at the Paris original in 1983 and can personally attest to that). Not too difficult to make a good choice, was it?

The chefs have made it to the Big Apple and they are treated to something very special, a dish at Le Cirque(I also ate there in 1985), also one of the very best French restaurants in the world. Owner Sirio Maccione explains that it is White Sea Bass with Russet Potatoes, Leeks, and Sauce and that it is not on the regular menu at Le Cirque; it is reserved for VIPs only. The Quickfire Challenge is to most perfectly match the way in which the one they ate was created. They have 25 minutes to do so, one at a time. Sirio is the Judge, although Padma will eat with him. Sirio's comments on the results are:

Sara - fish not cooked in the middle(Note: due to pre problems, she was not able to get it on the pan in time to throughly cook it)
Dale - no seasoning
Casey - better than any of the others
Hung - fish perfect, potato wrapped correctly
Brian - no comment

Sara loses big. Hung wins a close one over Casey.

Chefs move on to the French Culinary Institute, where a team of distinguished faculty awaits to eat the food that these chefs will cook. The Elimination Challenge is to Create a Fabulous Meal Using Basic Ingedients of Yellow Onion, Chicken, Russet Potato.
Hung gets an extra 30 minutes to cook on top of the 2 hours that everyone else gets. All have $200 and 1 hour to shop at Green Market. Dish choices are:

Brian - peasant's pie with chicken, pheasant, sausage, potato and ramp(I'm going to find out what this is; NOTE added later- it is a wild leek) puree
Sara - fricasee chicken with potato and Israelo couscous risotto
Dale - duet of chicken with onions and potato puree, honey sauce and rosemary
Casey - Coq Au Vin(which she misprounces as Venn), whipped potatoes, sauteed ramp (there it is again), asparagus
Hung - Sous Vide Chicken, Crispy Chicken Skins, Potatoes Dauphines, Salad

At Judges Table the Guest Judge is the venerable Andre Soltner, retired chef of Lutece another of the world's geratest French restaurants(I ate there is 1985; it was a very good year). He takes the strongest role I have ever seen from a Guest Judge, which is not suprising since what does Tom Colicchio know about French cooking compared to him.

Soltner states that Hung's creation is excellent except for the potatoes, which are not dauphines.
Sara's dish is rated as too ambitious.
Dale's dish was rated as not having sufficient flavor. In his haste, Dale forgot to add a critical sauce.
Brian's dish drew several positive comments.
Casey's dish was rated as having a lot of flavor, being the most refined, and being the best dish (by Gale), but Soltner said is was not Coq Au Vin.

The winners choice was between Hung, Casey and Brian, but really between the first two. Gail had voted for Casey, Padma for Brian, Andre for Hung, so Tom decided it. The choice was on whether calling a chicken (not the old hen called for in coq au vin) dish by that label was agreater sin than having potatoes that were not dauphines. The nod went to Hung.
The losers choice was between bad concept(Dale) or bad execution (Sara). Sara was given the boot. Dale gets to move ahead.

Casey sums up the competition thus far by stating that she views her only real competition as Hung. I believe that she's right.

apskip:
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.


 

apskip:
ANALYSIS of 3 FINAL FINALISTS

Dale - What is he doing here? He pulls out his first victory in the Elimination Challenge and makes it to the final competition. Can he do this twice in a row? I don't think so.

Hung - The master of technical chef skills reminds me of Marcel without Marcel's charm. Both work at Guy Savoy Restaurant in Las Vegas and both have been rightly viewed by all the other contestants as obnoxious. Hung has great talent but I do not like him. I hope he loses next week.

Casey - She is the darling of the competition. She is sound put not polished. She is going to have to be inspired and lucky to win. My guess is that she will be.

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