TC7, finale, part 2
It's the second and last part of finals in Singapore, with Angelo, Kevin and Ed competing for the grand prize. It was staged over a two day period following the elimination of Kelly. Padma immediately called the Final 3 back to hear that they would be cooking the best 4 course meal of their lives. The famous knife block was there for some type of draw. The courses would be:
1. Vegetable
2. Fish
3. Meat
4. Dessert (and Gail Simmons gave a plug for dessert since her Just Desserts new show was premiering immediately after Top Chef's finale)
Tom Colicchio stated that he and Eric Ripert were going to the market the next morning and buying the fresh fish, meat and any other proteins that all would cook with. There would be 3 hour prep time the next day. The sous chefs were brought in and they were all prior Top Chef winners. Angelo wanted Hung Huynh because they were in Singapore and Hung specializes in Asian food. The draw was:
Kevin – Mike Voltaggio (TC6) (both Ed and Kevin wanted Mike)
Ed – Ilan Hall (TC2)
Angelo – Hung Huynh (TC3) (note that Angelo’s wish was granted. Was this a harbinger?)
Seetoh’s final word to the chefs was “Sock It to Me”. I can just imagine him on 1967 Laugh-In saying that with his modest accent.
Angelo on returning to his room was very ill and a doctor examined him. It was one of those “it will pass, buddy, but not soon enough to allow you to cook” diagnoses. The next morning Angelo was totally out of it but the doctor gave him an antibiotic shot just in case it helped. Tom decided to allow Huynh at the market where each group had $300 and 1 hour to shop for other ingredients to be in phone contact with Angelo in his bed and later in the prep kitchen. It was as if Angelo’s group was almost competitive with Huynh’s extreme energy vs. the focus of Ed/Ilan and Kevin/Mike. Angelo was clear on one raw material he believed was critical, the in-house or store supply of foie gras (which was extremely limited). Huynh cornered the market by taking the one roll of it, which meant that Ed and Kevin could not use that ingredient. I believe that the original plan was to have the final cooking and meal that evening after another 3 hour period of cooking and plating, but it did not happen until the next morning. The doctor pronounced Angelo weak but able to compete and so he did to the best of his surely limited-by-the-lingering-effects-of-flu abilities. The market trip by Tom and Eric resulted in these proteins:
Fish –rouget, cuttlefish, cockles, clipper lobster
Meat – pork belly, duck
Tom cautioned that all of the non-primary proteins must be used up in other dishes. During the prep period some tensions between Ed and his sous chef Ilan Hall seemed to materialize. Ed was unhappy about the final execution of the fairly simple dessert. Kevin did his pork belly sous vide.
The dishes prepared were:
Angelo #1 Royale mushrooms, Noodles, char sui bao Pork Belly w/ watermelon tea
#2 Asian Style bouillabaisse w/ sautéed rouget and poached cuttlefish
#3 Sauteed duck breast and foie gras w/ marshmallow + tart cherry shooter
#4 shaved ice and coconut-vanilla ice cream w/ exotic fruit
Ed #1 chilled Summer corn veloute
#2 Bacon-wrapped slipper lobster and char-grilled cuttlefish w/ zucchini pesto
#3 Duck 2 Ways: marinated roasted duck breast and braised stuffed duck neck w/ baby spinach
#4 Sticky Toffee Date pudding with fleur de sel crème chantilly.
Kevin #1 Eggplant, zucchini, roasted pepper terrine, tomatoes, jalapenos, black garlic puree
#2 Seared rouget and cuttlefish noodles, pork belly, cockles, slipper lobster, cigala
#3 Marinated Roasted Duck w/ duck dumpling, caramelized bok choy, orange coriander sauce
#4 “Singapore Sling 2010” gorgeous fresh fruit of contrasting colors inside a purple shell floating over a coconut pannacotta
The invited diners for this special meal were:
Iggy Cha, restauranteur
Su-Ly Tan, travel author
Susan Feniger, Top Chef Masters competitor
David Chang, chef
Vincent Bourdin, pastry chef
Paul Borlotta, owner
Dana Cowin, Food and Wine magazine editor-in-chief
Andre Chang, owner
The meal was enjoyed by all diners and there were appropriate comments about special aspects of it. The 4 core judges went back to Judges Table to question the chefs interspersed with their own commentary (which was revealing nothing about relative performance). Here are a select few comments:
Angelo’s Vegetable - smart, utilizing local ingredients (Gail); vegetables were special (Eric)
Angelo’s Fish – Cherry Puree was by no means a palette cleanser (Padma); Angelo responded that it would have been if she recycled to the salad; there was no user’s manual (Tom)
Ed’s Fish – roasted duck breast and neck then braised the neck; demonstrated great skill (Tom), spinach was excellent (Gail)
Ed’s Dessert – really good (Gail); disagree strongly, it’s what I could get at home (Tom); why not something more advanced?(Tom); Ed responded he did not want to take a risk on the dessert course even though he had considered lemon curd (author - not all that “advanced”)
Kevin’s fish – Kevin stated pork added to enhance this dish
Kevin’s Meat – duck cooked nicely, not over-rested
Kevin’s Dessert – Singapore Sling 2010 – I went to where the original was invented (Raffles Hotel) and yours is much better (Gail); coconut on bottom was a surprise and highly refreshing (Eric)
The conclusion from the judges talking internally was that they had succeeded in getting the chefs out of their comfort zone (“element”) and that with 4 judges with major differences in perspective a decision would not come easily since all chefs had cooked exceptional meals. A course-by-course review led by Padma unearthed these additional comments:
Vegetable – Angelo’s noodles were pasta, not veggie in character (Eric); Kevin’s noodles not exciting (Padma went further to say timid)
Fish – Angelo’s beautiful (Gail); Kevin’s rouget was not very good (Tom); I disagree totally, it was cooked on one side and the skin was crispy, perfect (Eric, a higher authority on fish than Tom)
Meat – Angelo’s duck a great job (Gail), slightly overcooked (Tom); Kevin – cooked sous vide and perfectly (Eric), all the flavors worked (Tom),
Dessert – Kevin it was a fruit punch, which actually carried a huge wallop (Gail); so refreshing (Eric)
Summary comments about the chefs were Ed did a nice job (damning with faint praise?) and Angelo (“you paid homage to the ingredients”), but nothing was said about Kevin. Tom stated that the Top Chef title and prize was about to be awarded to the chef who took the most risks and had the best meal. They made the final decision, to proclaim Kevin as Top Chef. I have to believe that Angelo was hampered by the 3 hours prep time lost. Ed apparently made a mistake with his dessert, although there were no judging comments along those lines. That mistake was its extreme simplicity and admitting being unwilling to take any chance with simple add-ons like lemon curd, which could have enhanced the dish. I don’t think that a little bit of salt in the whipped cream (which Ed accused Ilan of) was responsible. Contrast that with Kevin’s approach exemplified by the creation of Singapore Sling 2010. Kevin just had the highest level of taste and flavor development particularly in my opinion with his Singapore Sling.