On Top Chef Masters tonight the lesson learned was that you have to watch out for the quiet ones. The contestants for tonight's episode were John Besh, Mark Peel, Anita Lo and Douglas Rodriquez. The three male chef's seemed to be good friends and had a lot to say while everyone showed a great deal of respect and friendship towards Anita, she seemed to be very quiet and reserved and she let her cooking do the talking.
In the QuickFire Challenge the chef's were required to cook a perfect egg with only the use of 1 hand. This challenge proved to be more than John Besh could handle. He only got one serving of his slow cooked egg to the judges and they said that most of it was raw and one judge, Gail Simmons, commented that it had a taste of burnt grease. This earned him only 1/2 star. Mark Peel also had problems, forgetting to put the olive oil on his fresh duck egg pasta with egg and olive oil cream sauce. His mistake cost him also, netting him only 2 1/2 stars. Douglas Rodriquez made an open faced corn cake with scrambled eggs and ham. It seemed well received but still only got him 3 stars. The winner was Anita Lo who made soft scrambled eggs and shitake mushrooms with truffle oil and oyster sauce. She creamed the guys with 5 stars. This gave her an almost insurmountable lead and let everyone know that she would be very hard to catch.
The Elimination Challenge had them cook a dinner for actor Neil Patrick Harris and some of his friends at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. They each were presented with one word that they had to use as the theme for their meal. Each word had a connection between magic and cooking. The four words were Mystery, Surprise, Illusion and Spectacle.
Mark Peel had the word Mystery and chose to make a Tai snapper in parchment with garlic mashed potatoes and leeks. The mystery was the fish was wrapped up and you did not know what it was until it was opened. John Besh had Suprise and he made salmon tartare with cauliflower blini, salmon roe salad with horseradish and creme fraiche sorbet, that he made table side with the help of Neil Patrick Harris, and he also made tempura-fried lobster wrapped in smoked salmon. Douglas Rodriquez had to work with Spectacle so he went for a flaming coconut which seemed to fizzle for the guests and the critics. His dish was duck four ways: 1) oyster ceviche with duck broth, 2)empanada with fois gras with figs, 3)sliced breast with butternut squash and 4) duck soup with young coconut.
Anita Lo smoked them all with 22 1/2 stars to Mark Peel's 18 1/2, Douglas's 13 and John Besh only ended up with 12 stars. The other lesson learned tonight is that sometimes you can try to make too much and put too much on the plate rather than doing one thing and doing it right.
Tonight's Top Chef Masters was enjoyable even though there was no real drama because after her fast start Anita Lo became the one to beat and that was a challenge that none of the chefs were up to. For her win tonight Anita Lo won $10,000 for SHARE, a charity that works with woman with Breast or Ovarian Cancer.
Showing posts with label Top Chef Masters Recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top Chef Masters Recap. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Top Chef Masters | Episode 3 Recap
Episode 3 of Top Chef Masters aired tonight. You will have to read to the end of this post to see who won between Wilo Benet, Rick Bayless, Cindy Pawlcyn, and Ludo Lefebvre and will move on to the Champions Round.
Tonight's QuickFire Challenge was based on the theme of color. The chefs drew knifes that were painted various colors and they then had to prepare a dish with the color they chose as the foundation of the dish.
Wilo Benet picked orange and made smoked salmon tartare with coconut milk and tomato paste sauce. Rick Bayless chose the green knife and he went with his strengths and prepared roasted vegetables, mole verde with tomatillos, green chilies and pumpkin seeds. Cindy Pawlcyn color was yellow and she cooked yellow vegetables curry over sweet corn grits and fried corn tortillas. The final contestant, Ludo Lefebrve, picked the red knife and went with steak tartare with watermelon, red onions and red beet gazpacho.
What I got out of the Quickfire Challenge was that either Wilo Benet or Rick Bayless would win. Their food offered big flavors that seemed to be greeted with rave reviews from the guest judges. The other thing I got from the challenge was that even though these are award winning chefs and are some of the best cooks in the country they still have worries and doubts just like the newbie competitors on Top Chef. They made mistakes just like rank amateurs, such as Wilo leaving the ring on his dish and Ludo forgetting to put his tomatoes on his plate. We also found out that Ludo Lefebrve is very intense and competitive and that Cindy Pawlcyn is not.
I was right, Wilo Benet won the challenge with 4 1/2 stars and Rick Bayless came in second with 4.
The twist for the Elimination Challenge was that each competitor had to draw a knife again to find out which protein they were to use in their dish. They would then have to prepare a street food dish that they served to the public. The choice of proteins they had were offal, the parts such as brain, spleen, kidney or liver.
Ludo drew pig's ear and decided to make a pork quesadilla with chorizo, pinto beans puree, lime aioli and smoked paprika. Rick chose tongue and he made a chorizo, bacon and tongue taco with guacamole and pickled onions. He was accused by Ludo of copying him. I think once again he was just playing to his strengths by working whatever ingredient he got into something Mexican. Cindy Pawlcyn had the misfortune of picking tripe but she seemed to salvage her choice by making a hot and spicy menudo out of it. Based on the critics comments it was neither hot nor spicy. Wilo's protein was beef heart, a meat that he had never cooked with. He went back to his roots and made a traditional Puerto Rican street food, " Tripleta", beef, ham and chicken in a pita bread.
In the end Rick Bayless won tonight's Episode 3 of Top Chef Masters easily with 22 1/2 stars. He will move on to the Champions Round and tonight he won $10,000 for his charity Frontera Farmer Foundation.
Tonight's QuickFire Challenge was based on the theme of color. The chefs drew knifes that were painted various colors and they then had to prepare a dish with the color they chose as the foundation of the dish.
Wilo Benet picked orange and made smoked salmon tartare with coconut milk and tomato paste sauce. Rick Bayless chose the green knife and he went with his strengths and prepared roasted vegetables, mole verde with tomatillos, green chilies and pumpkin seeds. Cindy Pawlcyn color was yellow and she cooked yellow vegetables curry over sweet corn grits and fried corn tortillas. The final contestant, Ludo Lefebrve, picked the red knife and went with steak tartare with watermelon, red onions and red beet gazpacho.
What I got out of the Quickfire Challenge was that either Wilo Benet or Rick Bayless would win. Their food offered big flavors that seemed to be greeted with rave reviews from the guest judges. The other thing I got from the challenge was that even though these are award winning chefs and are some of the best cooks in the country they still have worries and doubts just like the newbie competitors on Top Chef. They made mistakes just like rank amateurs, such as Wilo leaving the ring on his dish and Ludo forgetting to put his tomatoes on his plate. We also found out that Ludo Lefebrve is very intense and competitive and that Cindy Pawlcyn is not.
I was right, Wilo Benet won the challenge with 4 1/2 stars and Rick Bayless came in second with 4.
The twist for the Elimination Challenge was that each competitor had to draw a knife again to find out which protein they were to use in their dish. They would then have to prepare a street food dish that they served to the public. The choice of proteins they had were offal, the parts such as brain, spleen, kidney or liver.
Ludo drew pig's ear and decided to make a pork quesadilla with chorizo, pinto beans puree, lime aioli and smoked paprika. Rick chose tongue and he made a chorizo, bacon and tongue taco with guacamole and pickled onions. He was accused by Ludo of copying him. I think once again he was just playing to his strengths by working whatever ingredient he got into something Mexican. Cindy Pawlcyn had the misfortune of picking tripe but she seemed to salvage her choice by making a hot and spicy menudo out of it. Based on the critics comments it was neither hot nor spicy. Wilo's protein was beef heart, a meat that he had never cooked with. He went back to his roots and made a traditional Puerto Rican street food, " Tripleta", beef, ham and chicken in a pita bread.
In the end Rick Bayless won tonight's Episode 3 of Top Chef Masters easily with 22 1/2 stars. He will move on to the Champions Round and tonight he won $10,000 for his charity Frontera Farmer Foundation.
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