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Hell's Kitchen 9
apskip:
HK9, Ep. 2
A young rock electric guitar has been brought in to provide reveille for the HK9 competitors at 535am. They do not look amused.
The challenge for this episode is to cook steaks 4 ways:
NY Strip Medium Rare
Ribeye Medium
Filet Mignon Medium Well
Burger Well Done
Each team of 2 (or 3 for the Red team at the end or 1 for the Blue team at the end) will have their steaks cut and judged by Ramsay. Here were the points up to maximum of 4 that each pair received in his scoring:
Amanda/Krupa 4
Brendan/Jonathon 2
Carrie/Elise 1
Chino/Tommy 3
Jamie/Natalie 3
Monterray/Paul 2
Jennifer/Elizabeth/Gina 2
Will 4
Total Blue team 11, Red team 10 so the blue team got the reward of a trip to Palm Springs. The men flew with Ramsay in a private propjet, took the tramway to the top and had a lunch with Ramsay getting to know them better. The women got to clean the grills, unload a special meat shipment (several huge sides of beef), and have a lunch of blenderized meat scraps with the gristle into an unappetizing shake. The women also peeled potatoes and studied menus.
The prep for the next day’s dinner service was uneventful. Ramsay announced that Carrie and Will would make Caesar salads tableside for all customers and later Krupa and Monterray would carve prime ribs of beef tableside. However, Carrie could not handle the simple task of Caesar salad until Ramsay assigned Krupa to help her. Later, Krupa overturned by mistake the cart with the prime rib, forcing Ramsay to have Monterray handle the Red team prime rib cuts as well as the blue team’s.
Chino had multiple problems, including no communication, burning risotto and overcooking risotto. It took him until the 3rd attempt to turn out a decent dish of risotto that Ramsay approved. Brendan had problems with sea bass and it was rejected. He made the huge error of attempting to pass off the rejected one as newly cooked sea bass. Ramsay called him on this, threatening to turn the Blue kitchen upside down to find the discarded sea bass Brendan claimed to have trashed. Brendan’s lie was exposed and he lost all credibility with Ramsay.
Elise attempted to step up as a leader, but her Red teammates just saw her as annoying and obnoxious. Ramsay told her to shut up and take her direction from him rather than trying to give it to others.
One hour into the dinner service no Blue team had gone out, while Red was halfway through its entrees. Tommy’s duck was overcooked. Krupa got an “attaboy” from Ramsay for really exceptional sea bass. At this point nearly 2 hours had passed without Blue again getting no entrees out successfully. Ramsay shut the Blue kitchen and had 4 of the Red team come over and finish the blue dinner service. The Blue team was fuming but there was nothing they could do.
Blue had to nominate 2 as usual and Chino and Brendan were the obvious choices. Ramsay wasted little time in eliminating Brendan even though Chino has proven totally inept so far. I am sure the lie was the reason. Ramsay’s summary remark on Brendan was that the only thing bigger than his ego was the lies he tells. Brendan left Carrie with the idea that he wanted to get together with her after HK9 was over. Ramsay alerted both teams that he wanted a volunteer from Red to join and provide leadership for the Blue team the next morning to rebalance the teams. The Blue team told him they did not want help but he told them his reputation was on the line and they had no say in his decision. I predict that Elise will be that volunteer since the Red team already hates her.
apskip:
HK9, Ep. 3
It’s a new day in Hell’s Kitchen, with a group of clowns waking the competitors up early. Ramsay said that if they continue to cook like clowns, then they should be woken up by clowns. Ramsay assembled the Blue team and Red team to hear Red’s nomination of Carrie. He did not even listen to that, as he wanted to move Natalie to blue to get them organized properly.
The clowns are the lead-in to a kids and moms luncheon with a special menu of quesadillas and pasta for the kids and paninis made from naan for the moms. The first team to finish wins. The suspense is hyped by the announcer, but as usual it’s a cliffhanger ending with Blue victorious for the third time in a row. Carrie was criticized sharply by Elise and then other Red team members piled on.
The reward was a private visit to Medieval Times with jousting lesson included. The Red team had to clean the dining room of the mess that the kids and moms left behind, then set up a playground area for the upcoming Family Night of swing sets and a Basketball hoop. On return from Medieval Times the Blue team was smart enough to ask Natalie what the techniques were that Red had used to win the first 2 dinner services by such a wide margin. She told them that they organized each station meticulously with lists of how things would be done and then during the service they communicated continuously. To me that showed it was not rocket science, just the basics that Blue had been missing.
Chino and Gina were ordered by Ramsay to be Assistant Maitre D’s in the dining room assisting James for the biggest occupancy of the season for Family Night. The kids’ menu has chicken tenders and cheeseburgers while each table will get a margherita pizza.
Dinner service started. Elise received “nice pizza” acknowledgement from Ramsay. Krupa and Jamie then combined to put out a good risotto which was also acknowledged. Tommy overcooked chicken tenders. For the first Red order, Jennifer left Beef Wellington and a Burger off, which caused Ramsay to huddle the Red team for severe comment. Blue finished the appetizers and started entrees well before Red. Will failed? to complete an entrée. Amanda’s performance on the Meat station was ludicrous. Natalie had a problem with her first Beef Wellington but got at least 2 right after that. Amanda forgot an entire cod dish as the rest of that order was ready to go out. Carrie submitted lamb that was raw. That was the last straw for Ramsay. He ordered Gina to take the Red team on a tour of all Red tables so they could apologize to the customers. On return to the Red kitchen, he sent them packing and asked the Blue team to finish the orders for both kitchens.
Elise blasted Carrie for “upsetting the rhythm of the kitchen.” It is obvious that they have a personality conflict and one of them will eventually have to go. I believe it will end up being Elise after we viewers are subjected to more weeks of her vendetta against Carrie.
Ramsay asked the Red team what happened. Krupa opened her mouth and blamed it on Carrie’s infighting with Elise distracting the Red team from solving their leadership gap. Elise stepped up and blamed Krupa for non-performance. If there was any evidence of that on this telecast, I missed it. Elise is just one of those bitches who will not last very long. It only depends on how long the producers, including Ramsay, want to let her make more waves and get more publicity.
Ramsay nominated Jennifer, Carrie and Amanda for their transgressions in this episode and asked the standard “why should you stay” question. He then eliminated Amanda even though there was a case for each of those 3. However, I would have eliminated Elise so that the Red team can make an effort to develop good teamwork, which will be impossible as long as her big mouth dominates that team.
Ramsay told all competitors that they acknowledge any errors and then must fight back whenever they occur. His parting words for Amanda were that she lost the will to fight and that he therefore lost the will to protect her.
apskip:
Normally, I present this well in advance but IO was away on vacation when this information became available. Here is a summary of the background of the 18 initial competitors for HK9:
Elizabeth Bianchi, Age: 27, Line Cook, Hometown: New York, NY
Signature Dish: Pan-Roasted Quail
Natalie Blake, Age: 23, Sous Chef, Hometown: Harrodsburg, KY
Signature Dish: Lamb Chops
Amanda Colello, Age: 26, Personal Chef, Hometown: Sun City, CA
Signature Dish: Eggplant Rollatini with Creamy Polenta
Amanda Colello, Age: 26, Personal Chef, Hometown: Sun City, CA
Signature Dish: Eggplant Rollatini with Creamy Polenta
Carrie Keep, Age: 31, Pantry Chef, Hometown: Dallas, TX
Signature Dish: Chicken-Fried Rib Eye w/ Yukon Mashed Potatoes, White Truffle Cream Gravy
Gina Melcher, Age: 34, Restaurant Consultant, Hometown: Cape May, NJ
Signature Dish: Pistachio Scallops
Jennifer Normant, Age: 34, Chef de Cuisine, Hometown: Boston, MA
Signature Dish: Special Secret Pork with Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Krupa Patel, Age: 30, Private Chef, Hometown: Queens, NY
Signature Dish: Stuffed Naan with Cilantro Chutney
Elise Wims, Age: 26, Line Cook, Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Signature Dish: Pesto Seared Scallops with Sauteed Escarole
Chino Chang, Age: 39, Executive Chef, Hometown: Hatboro, PA
Signature Dish: Korean BBQ Beef
Brendan Heavey, Age: 31, Head Chef, Hometown: Hoboken, NJ
Signature Dish: Salmon with Basil Cream Sauce
Monterray Keys, Age: 34, Line Cook, Hometown: Darby, PA
Signature Dish: Pan-Seared Sea Bass
Will Lustberg, Age: 31, Sous Chef, Hometown: Jersey City, NJ
Signature Dish: Sheep’s Milk Ricotta Gnudi
Paul Niedermann, Age: 26, Junior Sous Chef, Hometown: Davie, FL
Signature Dish: Eggplant Involtini
Steven Paluba, Age: 44, Saute Chef, Hometown: Ridge, NY
Signature Dish: Seared Diver Scallops with Wild Mushroom Risotto
Jonathon Plumley, Age: 34, Head Cook, Hometown: Memphis, TN
Signature Dish: Punch-Drunk Chicken
Tommy Stevens, Age: 31, Line Cook, Hometown: Brewster, NY
Signature Dish: Toasted Coconut Crab Cake
Jason Zepaltas, Age: 29, Line Cook, Hometown: Chicago, IL
Signature Dish: Pork Tacos
Note that Jennifer as a Chef de Cuisine and Chino as an Executive chef have the most relevant experience. However, based on what I have seen in the first 3 episodes they are unlikely to survive to the midpoint of HK9.
apskip:
HK9, Ep. 4
Elise continued to keep yapping, mostly critical comments aimed at Carrie. Elise has no concept of what being a team player is. When paired with Elizabeth, she claimed that the dish they produced was all her idea. This will catch up to her without question; it is just how long the HK9 producers want to let her stay. Donald Trump usually lets such a controversial player stay in to about the midway point. I am guessing that Elise will be allowed to stay for about that long and when she has served her purpose of building ratings then she will be jettisoned as she deserves right now.
The challenge started with catching chickens for 5 minutes, with each one bringing to that team an ingredient to be used in creating 4 separate chicken dishes. Blue ended up with 11 ingredients and Red 9 ingredients, although the precise ones were not shown. Chicken will be cooked in teams of 2 or 1 by frying, grilling, sauteeing and roasting.
The faceoff between Red and Blue was based on dishes presented to People Magazine Senior Writer Jan Garcia and Entertainment Weekly Senior Editor Dave Kargas. Ramsay turned their feedback into a point system of scoring those dishes as follows:
Fried – Carrie/Gina – this is not cooked at all in the middle, so it is unacceptable R 0
vs. Paul – with roasted corn, grits and gravy B 1
Grilled -Jamie – with kale R 1
Monterray/Tommy – vegetables with minimal chicken due to accident in cutting it) B 0
Sauteed – Jennifer/Krupa – Chicken Cacciatore R1
Vs. Will/Jonathon – lemon chicken sautee B1
Roasted – Elise/Elizabeth – butternut puree, swiss chard, sweated onions, garlic R1
Natalie/Chino – roasted chicken coconut soup B not rated, as Ramsay wanted to have a winner and not a tie; Red was better
Is that really so, that Red had superior dishes? If you have read my Hell’s Kitchen recaps for past seasons, one of the things you know is that the outcome of a challenge frequently can be predicted after-the-fact based on what the Reward is. In this case, the Reward was riding GoKarts around an inside track. I think the blue team would not have found that very exciting, while the Red team was thrilled to do it. Blue got making chicken stock as a punishment, but they also used their time to role play how to communicate effectively during a mock dinner service. Chino failed that exercise.
Dinner Service opens with VIPs at the Chef’s Tables. Red had volleyball Olympian Missy May Treanor and Jan Kessy while Blue had Olympic swimming legends Mark Spitz and Janet Evans. Ramsay was trying to spur Olympic-level cooking performance from the teams. Elise started with scallops that were rubbery. Her 2nd try produced good scallops. Tommy doused a Caesar salad for Janet with way too much dressing, so he had to do it over. Monterray was inept at handling fish, failing to use the special fish spatula. Sous Chef Scott jumped on him and Monterray gave him a lot of lip including “there’s nothing I can do.” Scott told him what he should have done. Jonathon and Monterray fought and Natalie and Will tried to intervene and get them back on track.
At 2 hours into the dinner service, Red had just completed its appetizers and was starting on entrees. Gina sliced into a NY Strip Steak and it was raw. Chino appeared to be inept on Meat. His Beef Wellington was raw. Elise brought 2 fish to the pass and one was overcooked and the other raw. Chino had a 2nd raw Beef Wellington. Ramsay was pissed off at Blue’s performance throughout the evening, so he shut their kitchen down. A few minutes later he did the same for Red. He and sous chefs Andi and Scott did the meals for the Chef’s Tables. Who knows what happened to the other Hell’s Kitchen patrons, but presumably they all left partially fed.
In case either team had unrealistic visions, he clarified that neither team won and both would nominate 2 members whose departure would most improve their team. Blue made the obvious nominations of Chino and Monterray. After some major disagreements over what method should be used to determine them, Red nominated Carrie (totally unjustified since her performance was OK this episode) and Elise, who was not expecting that and had a very fixed stare on her face. Ramsay then went through his standard “why should you stay” question and got the usual pap. However, he then took the interesting approach of polling the Red team on whether Elise or Carrie should be excised. All but one of the 5 other Red team members said Elise and so did Natalie when Ramsay asked her.
It was decision time. It shouldn’t be either Carrie or Montserray (although he ought to watch his mouth around Scott, who looks pretty mean to me). So it should be Chino or Elise. Is Elise’s time up? Not yet, as Chino got the boot. Elise now had to face up to the negative consequences of wildly shooting her mouth off and the Carrie vs. Elise feud will continue.
franxaverian:
Apskip,
Just want to add something over your recap.
Ep 4: Ramsay asked the red team for a polling after Elise mentioned that all the red team members would prefer her over Carrie.
My thoughts after watching 4 episodes(sorry for not attempting on making the recaps..):
Jamie, Will, Krupa, Natalie could go really far. They show their capabilities.
As for Elise, I really thought that Autumn from 2 seasons ago was annoying. However, Elise is the most annoying contestant who I want to throw at although there's nothing I could do. *sigh* Hopefully Elise/Monterray/Carrie will really be the next 3 to be eliminated.
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