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Top Chef Masters

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TexasLady:
I really liked this challenge although I don't know if the right person was sent home. It was a toss up.

They all have such pride in what they make, you can see the disappointment with their food not being up to their own high standards.

Thanks as always apskip for your recaps!  :-*

apskip:
I observed that these master chefs were not having a good time with this elimination challenge, unlike the prior ones. The onerous dietary restrictions imposed by Zooey Deschanel really crimped their style. Although it was a good test of creating quality food under adverse conditions, they might have been better off feeding Zooey the raw carrots which are the staple item of her normal food intake.

apskip:
Welcome back, culinary fans (I am one too). This episode will make the final elimination before the Final 3 compete next week to deteremine the winner. I continue to be impressed by the demeanor of these master chefs, but some fraying at the edges was evident last night. The challenges were particuarly difficult, even for some of the very best chefs in the world. Kelly introduces the chefs as:
Anita - Asian fusion expert
Hubert - classic French and helathy cooking expert
Michael - Czar of italian cuisine
Rick - the Mexican food expert

The Blindfold Taste Test is used on both Top Chef and on Hell's Kitchen with great success. To highlight the tasting kills of these chefs, what could be more appropriate? That's what the producers thought and they were right. The chefs tasted 20 ingredients. Only a selected group were shown, with each chef having 2 correct choices not shown.

Michael correctly identifies peanut butter, corn, oregano, coconut water and hummus (5 total) and has a score of 7.
Hubert correctly identifies peanut butter, ketchup and maple syrup (that's 3 total) and has a score of 5.
Rick correctly gets chervil, pappadom, chervil and smoked paprika (that's a total of 4) and has a score of 6.
Anita correctly gets pappdom, ketchup, almond and dashi (that's a total of 4) and has a score of 6.
Ingredients that apparently were not identified correct by any of these chefs were hoisin sauce, mascarpone, maple syrup, shiso and mango(which means I wrote down 17 of the ingredients and the other 3 never made an appearance). Michael wins 5 points, Rick and Anita 4 each and Hubert 3.5. They also will pick for the upcoming Challenge in the order of points, meaning Michael goes first.

Kelly introduces this Challenge but conveniently does not mention a few things critical to it (like the unexpected twists which will happen in the middle of it to test these chefs' resourcefulness, adaptability and ability to react to sudden change). It will be a buffet for 200 Hollywood insiders inside the SLS Hotel. The first step is to "hire help" as they do not expect (unlike last week) the master chef to do all this themselves. The available help is introduced as 12 of the former cheftestants from the first 5 seasons of Top Chef. The group includes one winner (Ilan), one second place finisher (Richard Blaise), one charmer (Fabio Viviani) plus other above-average chefs. The master chefs were given 2 mintues to interview each chef. They took drastically different approaches. Michael elected to test agility and speed by actually testing them. He also asks each chef to pronounce his name; this is actually a good test as those more famliar with Italian cuisine would know how to do so properly). As Betty said a little later, "nobody wants to work for Michael." However, everybody wanted to work for Hubert. Rick formed a bond with Richard Blaise and his molecular gastronomy. What surprised me most of the picks was that Ilan Hall did not get picked until the third round; his new restaurant The Gorbals in L.A.  deliberately does not fit any genre, but Ilan was a Spanish chef before winning TC2. The final two picks are Spike (no surprise as he is hard to work with and Michael says "there's no way in a million years that Spike could ever work in one of my kitchens") and Betty because she may not have fared well against all the other Top Chef competitors. The actual picks go:
Michael - Fabio Viviani(a fine Italian chef who can pronounce Michael's name correctly)
Rick - Richard Blaise (because Richard in addition to being a fine chef and molecular grastonomist is a wiz at the use of Liquid Nitrogen)
Anita - Jaime Lauren (because Jaime had worked for Anita early in the annals of Annisa)
Hubert - Antonia Lofaso (4th place in Top Chef 4 and a fine all-around chef)
Michael - Brian Malarkey (seafood chef)
Anita - Dale Talde
Rick - Alex Eusebio (he wanted a chef familiar with Mexican cuisine and Alex was the closest to that available)
Hubert - Elia Aboumrad (pastry chef)
Michael - CJ Jacobsen
Anita - Ilan Hall (Top Chef 2 winner)
Rick - Betty Fraser
Hubert - Spike Mendelssohn

So food purchase at both Whole Foods and Restaurant Warehouse begins simultaneously. Half of each team is sent to each place. As Anita says, "there was no time to put together a grocery list." CJ had Michael go straight to the fresh fish counter at Whole Foods to get the choice of the best before any other team thought about it carefullly. There is $2000 to spend and 45 monutes to do so. Then cooking takes place over 3.5 hours. The next day everything will go to the hotel kitchen and another 2.5 hours final prep time will be available. There is insufficient capacity in the refrigerators for eveyrone's food. Micahel believes that Anita's sous chefs have monopolized some of what should be his. He and Dale get into the beginning of an altercation. Dale challenges Michael, who "eats 3 Dales for breakfast every day" but is smart enough to realize that the only no-loss strategy is silence in response.

That evening in the middle of cooking, Kelly arrives with the first twist, supposed to be so outlandish that chefs have to really scramble. They have 30 minutes to pack up and have all cooking finished for the move to the SLS Hotel. Many items in the  middle of cooking have to be terminated prematurely. Also, Kelly says that the buffet site has been moved to the patio, which puts the food in the sun. That puts Anita's raw bar into serious jeopardy and Michael talks about the impact on mayonnaise-based items.

The next morning at the SLS the next twist happens. Master chefs have to cut one chef from their teams. Anita is actually happy to have the opportunity to get rid of Jaime. She remembered too late that Jaime has a reputation of being methodical (read slow) in opening oysters for the raw bar. Rick releases Betty, who he had planned ot oversee the table decorations (not an important task and one that can easily be jetiisoned). Michael says that Brian's work was already completed so it is not too hard to release him. Hubert does not have to think long about letting Spike go and keeping Antonia and Elia. The cooking and prep continues and the guests arrive.

One thing that I thought was a bit ridiculous was having Kelly "introduce" the judges to the master chefs at their stations. This was the 5th round that each master chef had seen these judges, so I believe they knew who they were. The actual dishes presented (many were there but not talked about) were:

Michael's Rustic Italian buffet -  3 different antipasto (including I think olive oil cake), prime rib of swordfish, risotto 3 ways including w/ shrimp, braised leg of lamb, 2 desserts

Hubert's 18 item buffet - fondant  of carrot, gazpacho, lamb, red beets with Conte(with an accent aigu) cheese, oysters, asparagus, I am not sure of this but thought I saw a grilled onion half with caviar and creme fraiche on top, 6 glaces(light ice creams served in a glass)

Anita's buffet with Asian sauces and condiments  - noodle salad, braised pork rib with pork stuffing, Diversey(as best I can tell a parkway in Chicago noted for its seafood restaurants) scallops, raw bar of oysters, clams, etc.

Rick's Mexian buffet - guacamole bar, tortilla soup, saute of shrimp, avocado ice cream made with liquid nitrogen by Richard Blaise (Rick says he is going to order his tank of liquid nitrogen when he gets home)

The judges proceeded to ask the master chefs lots of questions. Anita got the toughest, whether she had considered turning the seafood bar into something else (not stated but seafood soup would be the obvious choice). She said there was no time for such a decision, so she just forged ahead. James stated but not to her that the total range of food prepared by her was disappointing alhtough what she served was very good.Rick got air time to describe what Richard Blaise had taught him about the liquid nitrogen used to make the avocado ice cream. The weird texture of Michael's swordfish was questioned. He explained that a sous chef probably did not remember to cut it off the end as requested(aha - preferential food for the judges; I hate that). Hubert was not questioned much as the judges were rightly heaping accolades on his food.

The final verdict is the result of the usual process. Here are the ratings of the diners, O (James), R (Jay), G (Gael), subtotal and total:

Rick D 4.5 O 4.5 R 4.5 G 4 Subtotal 17.5 Total 21.5
Hubert D 3.5 O 5 R 5 G 5 Subtotal  18.5 Total 22
Michael D 3.5 O 3 R 4 G 4 Subtotal 14.5 Total 19.5
Anita D 3 O 3 R 3.5 G 3.5 Subtotal 13     Total 17

So Hubert overcame the disadvantage of starting 1.5 points behind Michael and 0.5 behind the other 2 master chefs and wins the $10,000 check for the Make a Wish Foundation and Anita goes home. That seems quite fair to me. I expect the main battle in the Final 3 next week to be Hubert vs. Rick, with Michael a distant third. However, anything can happen. The previews of next week were brief, but the facecs clearly evident were those of past Top Chef winners. Are they the panel of judges and will they replace the judges who have been at the core of Top Chef masters? Tune in next week for the Top chef Masters finale following the premiere of top Chef 6 (Las Vegas)

apskip:
With Top CHef 6 preceding it with a 75 minute opening show, the Top Chef Masters finale will be on Wednesday night from 1015pm to 1115pm EDT.

TexasLady:
I have to agree, Michael a distant third with Hubert and Rick top two, Hubert the winner but we'll see. BTW, yes, the diners will be the past Top Chef winners.  :tup:

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