Raise your hand if you ate fish and chips doused in malt vinegar salt since the last episode of Top Chef. Last week’s challenge brought on a pub crawl brawl, pairing up the chefs to elevate pub food. A double elimination sent home May Phattanant Thongthong and Dale MacKay for a soggy scotch egg. I have my “Justice for May” t-shirt on as I believe she was told to pack her knives and go way too early.
Ali Ghzawi still can’t get over being in the bottom with Amar Santana for their uncrispy fish. Ali does not want to be in that position again and is ready to get his groove back. And speaking of groove, Padma Lakshmi and her Austin Powers look-a-like guest judge, chocolatier Paul A. Young, have a sweet and savory biscuit duo challenge for the group. Yeah, baby!
A Tale Of Two Biscuits
Padma made sure that everyone understands that biscuit means cookie for this quickfire challenge. Buddha Lo is confused and thinks American biscuits are scones. He needs some schooling from Kentucky chef Sara Bradley, stat. Padma told everyone the same dough can be used for both biscuits, or they can make two separate doughs. Austin, I mean Paul, wants the chefs to give him cheesy, herby biscuits. Oh, behave!
Nicole Gomes is worried that her cacio e pepe cookie will be underbaked as she put them in the oven last minute. Victoire Gouloubi has the opposite problem as her cassava flour cookies overbaked. Tom Goetter got fancy and baked his biscuits using nitrogen. That’s some Iron Chef cooking right there. The problem was he didn’t actually make an English biscuit, but rather a mini cake. When questioned by the judges, Tom defiantly said he doesn’t like biscuits. What a gem.
To no one’s surprise, the chefs’ least favorite was Victoire, Tom, and Gabriel Rodriguez. Poor Gabriel looked shocked when Padma made a face eating his too-sweet cookies. Nicole ended up being in the top for a good crumble. Luciana Berry delivered on Paul’s cheesy request with an extra cheesy biscuit. In the end, Ali got his groove back and landed the win with crispy cookies! Crispy redemption for Ali.
Getting To Know You
Padma gave the chefs the night off, so everyone went out together for an elegant candle-lit dinner. Whoever did the tablescape at this restaurant was on their A-game. We got a little back story from the group as they shared former professions and how long they had been cooking.
Charbel Hayek dished he used to be a hairdresser, which immediately prompted all the women to line up and ask for free highlights. Begona Rodrigo said she started cooking when she was thirteen. She’s so passionate about cooking that she went back to work a few days after she had her baby. Victoire left the Congo to pursue cooking in Italy, but experienced racism while in cooking school. Once Victoire was on Top Chef Italy, she was floored at all the letters she received that said she was their inspiration. Victoire is extremely proud to be the voice for the women of Congo.
Two’s Company, Three’s A Crowd
The next day the chefs arrive at Tottenham Hotspur football stadium. Padma told everyone to break off into groups of three as they will be competing against each other in three rounds of forty-five-minute matches. The twist is the team that loses the second round has to compete against one another. Nicole is worried that three people with three different opinions will be a challenge in itself. That’s probably the point.
Padma, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Top Chef Mexico judge Aquiles Chavez, and former player and club ambassador Ledley King, watched on as the battles began. Luciana, Begona, and Gabriel faced-off against Nicole, Victoire, and Amar using Stilon cheese. Buddha, Tom, and Ali duked it out against Charbel, Sylvia Stachyra, and Sara using Wensleydale cheese.
As Nicole and Amar served their dish of duck Breast with stilton, fruit, and walnuts, Victoire was rushed off due to a nut allergy. Amar said it was a bit of a rough start working together, but they got it together in the end. Luciana, Begona, and Gabriel served a poached egg with pear, balsamic vinegar, crumble, and stilton foam. Those three are super-talented chefs, but the dish looked like yogurt and granola. Also, let’s cancel foams from now on. Yuck. And the winning team was Amar, Nicole and Victoire!
Next up, Buddha, Tom, and Ali served braised onion with Wensleydale cheese puree, pickled grapes, chiles, and crumble. Anything pickled works for me. Charbel, Sylvia, and Sara served a cauliflower welsh rarebit, stout and cheese sauce with caramelized shallot and cheese puree. They also added a Wensleydale frico on top. Yum yum. The frico crunch must have done it because Charbel, Sylvia, and Sara took that round!
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All About Apples
The winning teams got to rest knowing they are safe from elimination. That left Buddha, Tom, and Ali to go up against Begona, Gabriel, and Luciana. The extra pressure was on Buddha and Tom as Ali is safe from elimination due to winning immunity in the quickfire challenge. The teams were tasked with making dishes using Bramley apples.
Luciana, Begona, and Gabriel went savory and served a crab and apple cannelloni with apple mayonnaise. Buddha, Tom and Ali went sweet and served an apple tart with crumble and creme anglaise, and they won the round! Their dish had the most apple flavor. Also, who doesn’t love an apple tart?
And Then There Were Three
Honestly, I was shocked to see Begona, Luciana, and Gabriel having to compete against one another in the final round. They are all top-tier chefs, and Begona has that Michelin star! Padma unveiled English peas as the last ingredient they needed to cook with.
Begona made cream of peas with creme fraiche, salted peas, fried peas, and pea meringue. We all know Begona loves her vegetables so this had to be up her ally. Luciana served a scallop carpaccio with Yakiniku sauce and pea veloute. Aquiles questioned where the acid was in the dish. And finally, Gabriel served sautéed peas and cured beets with a pea and mint tuile. Glad to see mint was added as minted peas are a classic.
The judges thought Begona’s dish was very clean and creative. They also thought Gabriel’s peas were undercooked, but his dish had a ton of flavor. Ultimately, it was Luciana who was sent home due to not having enough pea flavor in her dish. Luciana’s energy was so great to watch on the show, it’s going to be a bit of a bummer without her moving forward.
TELL US – WERE YOU SURPRISED BEGONA, LUCIANA, AND GABRIEL WERE IN THE BOTTOM THREE? DO YOU AGREE WITH THE JUDGE’S DECISION TO SEND LUCIANA HOME? WHICH CHEESE DO YOU PREFER – STILTON OR WENSLEYDALE? DO YOU LIKE FOAM ON YOUR DISH?
[Photo by: David Moir/Bravo]