photo: bravo
Top Chef
Fire and Ice
Original Air Date: Feb 22, 2012
Ryan O – TwoCents Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com
Going into last week’s episode, I would’ve sworn this week’s episode was the last one. Nope. This is the second-to-last or the penultimate episode. One more after this one. Don’t worry though, there’s an off-putting challenge and an elimination.
So, hang on with me, won’t you? Journey to Vancouver for two challenges that will make you scratch your head and say, “Huh?” and lead to a result that just makes you sad. Well, it made me sad anyway (Sorry, no spoilers!). I’d be less sad if Chris Stupid Hair was declared the Top Chef.
Quickfire
They’re in Vancouver because why not, right? And in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
The cheftestants get paired up with Asian chefs who have been on Top Chef Masters.
Lindsay gets Anita Lo.
Sarah gets Floyd Cardoz.
Paul gets Takashi Yagihashi.
(You know, why not have them cook some Canadian food since they’re, you know, in CANADA?)
It’s a tag-team. The master will cook for 10 minutes, then the cheftestant for 10, and then they’ll do that again for 40 total minutes of cooking. They’re not allowed to talk about what they’re cooking. They need to make an Asian-influenced dish. The winner will get $20,000.
Okay, you know how Sarah was always complaining about Beverly just doing “Asian” dishes? I never really got into how dumb that is but I’ll take that opportunity now by simply pointing out Sarah only ever cooks European dishes. See, sounds ridiculous, right? There’s no single European cuisine just like there’s no single Asian cuisine.
Here’s what they made.
Lindsay and Anita: Scallop two ways: bok choy and chile, fried roe with sausage and water chestnut
Sarah and Floyd: Pan-seared cod with coconut curry, crab salad with clementine and amaranth
Paul and Takashi: Mirugai (a large saltwater clam, also known as a geoduck (which is pronounced gooeyduck)) sashimi with yuzu dashi, friend with fish, scallions and chile
Emeril thought that Lindsay’s Chinese sauces were a little overpowering. (Oh, right, Emeril is here to judge. I mean who’s more qualified to judge Asian food than Emeril, right?) He did like how she seared the scallop and fried the roe.
Emeril loved Sarah’s use of crab with the fish and loved the sauce. He thought it could’ve used a bit more acid.
Emeril liked how Paul let the ingredient stand on its own since a lot of people wouldn’t do that with that particular ingredient. He also liked that he added the fried fish. He did feel there was a bit too much chile though.
Sarah and Floyd win.
Elimination Challenge
Each person will be responsible for one dish and one cocktail for a cocktail party. The dish must contain one hot and one cold element. They have to serve 150 people. Ugh. Seriously? 150 people? And a cocktail? This late in the game? They have just five hours to cook.
By the way, yes, there IS a Whole Foods in Vancouver. So, PHEW!
Tom talks with the three chefs about what they’re making. Lindsay is making halibut, just like in Restaurant Wars when she told Beverly how to cook it and it didn’t go so well. Sarah is making a European dish AGAIN! Paul is working on working a bouillabaisse with a lot of lobsters.
Here’s what they made.
Paul
Dish: King crab with lobster broth and lemon snow
Cocktail: “The Pan Am” Kaffir lime, Thai chiles, and rum
Tom says the lobster broth has a lot of flavor however he seems actually offended by Paul’s use of arugula as a garnish. He says if it’s there, it should have a purpose.
Everyone likes the cocktail.
Sarah is actually instructing the waiters to tell the diners how to eat her dish. Wow. No way.
Sarah
Dish: Five greens-filled pasta with garlic, chile, and spiced sformato (like a mousse or a less airy souffle) (she froze the sformato on an anti-grill but she believes it’s too frozen)
Cocktail: “Agrumi” Gin, kumquats, and mango
Gail asks if the sformato is supposed to be so tough to cut into. Tom says she probably wanted it to melt but the flavors are great. Emeril says the pasta is very good.
Everyone loves the cocktail. Gail isn’t sure it goes with the dish. Tom agrees that it doesn’t go.
Lindsay
Dish: Halibut with fiery celery root salad
Cocktail: “Encendido” Vodka, tomato, and horseradish
Tom thinks the halibut is nicely cooked and has a lot of flavor. He isn’t sure what the raw kale is doing on the plate. Gail really likes the tomato ice that Lindsay served. She says it’s best seasoned ice she’s ever had.
Emeril says the cocktail goes well with the dish but on its own it’s very flat.
Judges Table
Padma says that Paul could’ve gone a touch further with the spice. Tom says the idea came together very nicely but wants to know about the arugula. Paul says he wanted a fresh green and a peppery note. Tom says it looked like an after-thought.
Sarah says that the baked pasta represented the fire. Gail loved the pasta but the mousse was so frozen that it was hard to eat together. Tom says the dish was brave but maybe the mousse was too cold.
Gail loved Lindsay’s tomato soup. Tom thought the soup overpowered the halibut a little. Emeril says his fish was cooked perfectly.
The cheftestants go away and the judges talk about the dishes.
Tom, again, is defending Sarah’s dish to Gail. This has happened in a number of episodes, including just last week. Obviously, without tasting the dishes first-hand, we can’t judge for ourselves but it feels like Tom has championed Sarah’s way into the finals. Gail has fought her at every step. I think Gail might dislike Sarah as much as the audience does. Is that affecting how she judges her dishes? Impossible to say.
The cheftestants come back. Padma says, “Sarah …” I cheer. “You will be moving onto the final.” I curse. Lindsay is out. Paul not only is in but he wins and gets a trip for two to Costa Rica.
Sarah tells us she always knew that it would be her and Paul at the end. Of course she did.
What did you find to be tasty in this episode? Did you think anything was overdone? Give us your Two Cents below!
I agree with your comment about Sarah’s misunderstanding the breadth of Asian cuisine. But we should correct what you say about her cooking European. She’s made Italian. In about 95% of her dishes. Talk about a one-trick pony.
What I though was overdone was Tom’s complaints about Paul’s arugula. If that’s your only complaint, that’s a damn good dish then. Besides Padma’s leather shirt and tight leather pants, Paul’s crab leg soup looked the tastiest.
Oh, to be sure — Sarah has mostly made Italian but that’s beside the point of my comment.
It is a bit tiresome the way the show feels it can’t give anything away with the judges’ comments about the food.
I was happy to see Paul named the winner and moving on to the finale. I didn’t really care who stayed between Sarah and Lindsay. Hopefully Paul won’t over think his dishes and will come out victorious.
Also, it seemed like a lot of money for the Quick Fire challenge ($20,000) when the chefs were only cooking for 20 minutes, since they switched on and off with the Asian chefs.
I really would’ve preferred that Sarah lose now instead of later but as long as she loses eventually, that’s fine.
It did seem like a lot of money for cooking half of a dish.
Just finished watching. Bull-freaking-shit. They’ve let chefs go for lesser errors than Sarah, really a frozen glob of thingamajig on a PASTA is okay but Tom rails over a sprig of arugula? I’ve always liked Gail and love her for disliking Sarah :meow: :p
I did appreciate them getting Floyd as one of the Asian chefs, a lot of people have that misunderstanding about Asian food. I’ve been told by a few people – oh but you are not Asian. Oookeee if the sub-continent got continent status no one told me about it. :p
I completely agree with everything you said, Anu
Including Floyd as an Asian chef does really drive home the point that “Asian cuisine” is vast and varied