I think what amused me most about this episode was the obvious slow-pitch: roast chicken and potatoes. This is a dish that any chef (and any decent home cook for that matter) should be able to nail with minimal effort.

Padma made a big show in the quickfire of saying that the winner will "get a HUGE advantage". That advantage to me seemed to be the ability to choose the roast chicken and potatoes as their dish. I was shocked when comfort-food-Carla stuck with squab (but her kinship with peas explained it). Kudos to her for doing so well, and I have to say that of all the plates of food cooked, the squab and peas was the one that I most wanted to try.

In hindsight, the eggs benedict seems like a dish of dangerous pitfalls that Leah walked right into: even when executed reasonably well, there are separate elements that are easy to pick apart for flaws (and nitpicking is what gets you thrown off at this stage of the game): the bread isn't yours, the bacon isn't yours (she really should have tried to do a stove-top smoke of a piece of pork belly), an egg is very easy to screw up (she put hers in a cooking machine, and screwed that up). The hollandaise is the one place in that dish to really show that you have chef-like skills (and she blew it).

She also blew the opportunity to give WD a bit of whimsy (something he's clearly impressed by). She could have paired her traditional benedict with two mini benedicts using quail eggs and some alternatives to bacon. Call it "mother hen and her two chicks". Leah skills aren't quite there and she doesn't have any creativity to make up for it. Bye, bye.

eatchicago wrote:I think what amused me most about this episode was the obvious slow-pitch: roast chicken and potatoes. This is a dish that any chef (and any decent home cook for that matter) should be able to nail with minimal effort.

Was anyone else suprised that Fabio didn't truss his chickens?

JLenart wrote:Was anyone else suprised that Fabio didn't truss his chickens?

Not me. You don't always need to truss. It really depends on how you roast it. I don't truss at all when I roast chickens.

Dmnkly wrote:

PitaChip wrote:I agree that there must have been some fancy editing because it seemed Stephan was done for. On the basis of "making the dish that tasted worst" it seemed clear he should have been sent packing.

I don't think that's the case at all. I think it was made fairly clear at judges' table that while his salmon was overcooked and some didn't understand why there were two types of spinach, that the seasoning and flavors of his dish were very good -- the potatoes were complimented, the dill sauce was complimented -- and they seemed to indicate that but for the overcooking of the salmon, it was a very good dish.

Leah, on the other hand, undercooked her egg and screwed up her hollandaise -- debateably similar technical gaffes (except for the fact that two of her components were off technically) -- but beyond that, what was there to compliment? Some bacon? They're playing up the drama as usual, but to say that the edit made it appear that his dish tasted worse. What I took away was, "This is a nice dish... too bad the salmon's overcooked."

Well, that may all be true, but having had too many over-cooked pieces of salmon, I'd say that such food is quite dreadful to eat. I mean how well seasoned does it matter. Leah's dish was technically flawed, but no one thought it tasted bad (at least from what I remember). The undercooked egg did not verge into the gross factor.

It was so clear from watching Stefan cook his dish that it would be over-cooked. It seemed, to me, too done when he did the dish on the stove. From there it went into the oven then, he had carry-over heat. Try cooking a piece of Whole Foods salmon at home and see what you think.

But clearly, overall, Stefan is much more talented than Leah. I just wonder, from what I saw, if he was more talented yesterday.

eatchicago wrote:That advantage to me seemed to be the ability to choose the roast chicken and potatoes as their dish.

Given that there's hundreds of ways to do a roast chicken, the version of roast chicken that would appeal to, say, Jacques Pepin (herby) v. the one that would appeal to Lidia (lemon) are different. Fabio did have a huge advantage if only because he instinctively knew which version of roast chicken Lidia would love as her last meal (and he executed it well, to be sure).

A smart chef could have used Eggs Benedict as an easy ticket into the final four. My recollection is that Dufresne asked for a "traditional" eggs benedict. So do it traditional but execute it perfectly. As long as you perfectly execute it, you can't get dinged fatally for using store-bought ingredients because nobody expects you to make your own muffins or Canadian bacon. And they can't ding you for being boring because Dufresne asked for a traditional eggs benedict, so no fanciness like bacon or squab eggs, etc. Frankly, I understand where Dufresne is coming from in requesting traditional eggs benedict for a last meal, but I'd be disappointed if, for my last meal, I was served bacon and challah bread instead of the usual ingredients, but I suppose that was discussed at the judge's table and we didn't see it. Doing it safely but perfectly would at least have gotten you to the next round.

But that dissenter was Toby, whose opinion should always be discarded.

I think Toby was prepared to call Leah the winner. (He likes runny whites?!) Fortunately it seems that the judges are now totally disregarding his opinions, none too soon, either. Anyone want to make book on his chances of being back next year?

one thing really befuddled me at judges' table. I could have sworn Tom told Leah that her poached eggs needed another 5-6 minutes. Another 5-6 minutes? Total cooking time for a poached egg should be less than that. Did she just serve a raw egg out of the refrigerator? Did I completely mis-hear what Tom said?

Kennyz wrote:one thing really befuddled me at judges' table. I could have sworn Tom told Leah that her poached eggs needed another 5-6 minutes? Another 5-6 minutes? Total cooking time for a poached egg should be less than that. Did she just serve a raw egg out of the refrigerator? Did I completely mis-hear what Tom said?

I thought he said 5-6 seconds. But my hearing could have been off too.

It's that special cooker Le Bernardin uses for uncooked asparagus.

"I liked the runny egg so much I wanted to take the vows of an eggs-Benedictine monk."

apparently, Leah's eggs cook in an immersion circulator for 55 minutes (should it be 61?). I'll stick with a pot of hot water for my poached eggs, tyvm.

Kennyz wrote:apparently, Leah's eggs cook in an immersion circulator

Good grief.

Kennyz wrote:apparently, Leah's eggs cook in an immersion circulator for 55 minutes (should it be 61?). I'll stick with a pot of hot water for my poached eggs, tyvm.

Yeah, they showed the circulator. Someone said it needed a few more minutes and Tom said "or a few more degrees".

aschie30 wrote:Given that there's hundreds of ways to do a roast chicken, the version of roast chicken that would appeal to, say, Jacques Pepin (herby) v. the one that would appeal to Lidia (lemon) are different. Fabio did have a huge advantage if only because he instinctively knew which version of roast chicken Lidia would love as her last meal (and he executed it well, to be sure).

I don't really buy that. A well-executed roast chicken is going to please just about anyone, regardless of seasoning and technique used. If you cook a perfect roast chicken (which any chef should be able to do in their sleep) none of those judges are going to ding you because you made it lemony instead of herb-y. Pepin and Bastianich both loved Fabio's chicken.

Roast chicken and potatoes is a slow pitch right down the middle of the plate to anyone who can cook.

Mike G wrote:"I liked the runny egg so much I wanted to take the vows of an eggs-Benedictine monk."

Stop it, I'm laughing at work... if Toby said things this funny, I wouldn't despise him as much as I do.

Re: Fabio's injury, he goes into more detail on the TC Blogs page:

Bravotv.com: You really hurt yourself — what happened?

I took a corner and I did fall due to the wet floor and my pinky was dislocated, so it got very swollen and I coud not move my whole hand. The funny part is that I was about to start cooking and I am a professional chef and like I said this is Top Chef not Top Pussy, so I held strong and got the job done!

Bravotv.com: Had you ever hurt yourself that badly in the kitchen before?

I did burn myself really badly three years ago. I accidentally coated my whola hand with caramelized sugar and I had a third-degree burn. I almost lost my hand and after four days I was back to work. I was eating painkiller sfor breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is what it is; you have to deal with it.

Bravotv.com: You really hurt yourself — what happened?

I took a corner and I did fall due to the wet floor and my pinky was dislocated, so it got very swollen and I coud not move my whole hand. The funny part is that I was about to start cooking and I am a professional chef and like I said this is Top Chef not Top Pussy, so I held strong and got the job done!

Bravotv.com: Had you ever hurt yourself that badly in the kitchen before?

I did burn myself really badly three years ago. I accidentally coated my whola hand with caramelized sugar and I had a third-degree burn. I almost lost my hand and after four days I was back to work. I was eating painkiller sfor breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is what it is; you have to deal with it.

Of course it was his whola hand!

To me, roasted chicken, like many seemingly simple items, is one of those 'minute to learn, lifetime to master,' type of dishes. I didn't think that ending up with it was necessarily a gimme for Fabio. It's easy to make a good one but it's not so easy to make a great or memorable one and the likelihood of screwing it up is relatively high.

Regarding Leah's EB, there were obvious problems, but I also thought choosing challah was a missed bet. The tanginess of an english muffin makes it an ideal base for the dish and in lieu of that, perhaps a good piece of sourdough would have been a better choice.

=R=

Vital Information wrote:

Dmnkly wrote:

PitaChip wrote:I agree that there must have been some fancy editing because it seemed Stephan was done for. On the basis of "making the dish that tasted worst" it seemed clear he should have been sent packing.

I don't think that's the case at all. I think it was made fairly clear at judges' table that while his salmon was overcooked and some didn't understand why there were two types of spinach, that the seasoning and flavors of his dish were very good -- the potatoes were complimented, the dill sauce was complimented -- and they seemed to indicate that but for the overcooking of the salmon, it was a very good dish.

Leah, on the other hand, undercooked her egg and screwed up her hollandaise -- debateably similar technical gaffes (except for the fact that two of her components were off technically) -- but beyond that, what was there to compliment? Some bacon? They're playing up the drama as usual, but to say that the edit made it appear that his dish tasted worse. What I took away was, "This is a nice dish... too bad the salmon's overcooked."

Well, that may all be true, but having had too many over-cooked pieces of salmon, I'd say that such food is quite dreadful to eat. I mean how well seasoned does it matter. Leah's dish was technically flawed, but no one thought it tasted bad (at least from what I remember).

Pepin thought so, though he didn't say so at the dinner table:

Jacques Pepin wrote:Bravotv.com: What do you remember of the other dishes that were presented? Did any of them stand out to you?

I remember one. I remember the poached egg with hollandaise sauce. The hollandaise sauce was a disaster because of the yolk. I didn't discuss it because it wasn't my dish. The beginning of the yolk was not cooked enough. When you add the liquid it just collapsed and the whole thing was covered in liquid. I think that a pretty bad disaster.

I know this will probably induce a barrage of defenses of the show, but don't the blogs really serve as post-hoc defenses of the show? Every person who writes a blog has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed, if only because the judges or the guest judges (who are asked onto the show by the producers) get exposure on the show, and therefore, benefit from the show. (In the case of Lee Ann, she's employed by the show and likewise has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed.)

So, what I'm saying is that the blogs are a brilliant way to justify a decision made in the context of the show in seemingly frank and honest terms, but really, the blogs are just speaking for the show. Kind of like Obama's press secretary speaks for Obama even though he is not Obama himself.

ronnie_suburban wrote:To me, roasted chicken, like many seemingly simple items, is one of those 'minute to learn, lifetime to master,' type of dishes. I didn't think that ending up with it was necessarily a gimme for Fabio. It's easy to make a good one but it's not so easy to make a great or memorable one and the likelihood of screwing it up is relatively high.

I agree, especially in the sense of making it memorable. LB has no doubt had a lot of good versions of this dish. It gives you more to measure up to.

Wonder what went wrong with Stefan-- has anyone explained? Maybe that illustrates how much harder it is than it looks, doing this all on TV without a major messup. His assignment sounded like such a gimme.

These last two challenges were wonderful IMO-- just what I hoped Top Chef would be like all along.

aschie30 wrote:I know this will probably induce a barrage of defenses of the show, but don't the blogs really serve as post-hoc defenses of the show? Every person who writes a blog has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed, if only because the judges or the guest judges (who are asked onto the show by the producers) get exposure on the show, and therefore, benefit from the show. (In the case of Lee Ann, she's employed by the show and likewise has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed.)

So, what I'm saying is that the blogs are a brilliant way to justify a decision made in the context of the show in seemingly frank and honest terms, but really, the blogs are just speaking for the show. Kind of like Obama's press secretary speaks for Obama even though he is not Obama himself.

I read the blogs to fill me in on aspects of the show that the editing left out. For example, Pepin said that Leah's sauce was a disaster. From the show itself, I garnered that the sauce was just too thin. According to Pepin, it was much worse than that. Now I understand better why she was sent home.

Another example is that I appreciated Colicchio's discussion about the virtue of trying to replicate the dishes at Le Bernadin. It was also nice to learn from Jaime that the contestants knew they would have to cook something related to the dishes they were eating, so many were taking notes.

I don't see the blogs as a defense of the show, per se. Although it would be helpful if you could give an example of what you mean. I do think, however, that if the editing were better -- or at least done in a way that highlighted the aspects I'm most interested in -- than I wouldn't need to read the blogs.

aschie30 wrote:I know this will probably induce a barrage of defenses of the show, but don't the blogs really serve as post-hoc defenses of the show? Every person who writes a blog has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed, if only because the judges or the guest judges (who are asked onto the show by the producers) get exposure on the show, and therefore, benefit from the show. (In the case of Lee Ann, she's employed by the show and likewise has a vested interest in seeing the show succeed.)

So, what I'm saying is that the blogs are a brilliant way to justify a decision made in the context of the show in seemingly frank and honest terms, but really, the blogs are just speaking for the show. Kind of like Obama's press secretary speaks for Obama even though he is not Obama himself.

In my experience over the run of the show, they used to do a lot less explaining and a lot more illuminating, but that tone started to become more defensive after a couple of controversial decisions caused people to howl. Also, it isn't as though Colicchio hasn't been critical of the show at times in his blog. (Of course, to those who are convinced the show is fixed, that's just further evidence that it's all a big sham... they create the impression that Tom is speaking freely when in fact the producers are writing his comments for him!)

In any case, you're right, they absolutely could serve that purpose. Bottom line is either you believe they're sincere or you don't. I see more potential detriment than benefit in that kind of manipulation, and call me naive, but I trust the integrity of an awful lot of people who have spent their online time "explaining". But hey, YMMV.

(As far as this episode though, Pepin chose to criticize Leah's dish, not Stefan's when given the opportunity. Are you questioning the integrity of Jacques Pepin?!?!?!)

ronnie_suburban wrote:To me, roasted chicken, like many seemingly simple items, is one of those 'minute to learn, lifetime to master,' type of dishes. I didn't think that ending up with it was necessarily a gimme for Fabio. It's easy to make a good one but it's not so easy to make a great or memorable one and the likelihood of screwing it up is relatively high.

Maybe, but show me a chef who isn't 100% confident that they can make a damn good roast chicken and I'll show you a chef that I wouldn't hire to run a restaurant.

eatchicago wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:To me, roasted chicken, like many seemingly simple items, is one of those 'minute to learn, lifetime to master,' type of dishes. I didn't think that ending up with it was necessarily a gimme for Fabio. It's easy to make a good one but it's not so easy to make a great or memorable one and the likelihood of screwing it up is relatively high.

Maybe, but show me a chef who isn't 100% confident that they can make a damn good roast chicken and I'll show you a chef that I wouldn't hire to run a restaurant.

Oh, I agree but the circumstances of competition do provide a unique set of parameters. Not saying they're any harder than an actual restaurant, though.

But regarding your specific comment -- which made me smile -- the same could be said of any of the proteins from the meal last night. How hard is it to cook salmon, scampi or squab -- or eggs benedict, for that matter? Many of us here have probably cooked all these items with success on multiple occasions (ok, probably not squab but you get the point ). One could argue that the scampi were the easiest because they cook so quickly -- they're never out of sight -- and their shorter cooktime allowed Hosea to spend more time on other things (an edge upon which he failed to capitalize).

Just splitting hairs, of course. I'm ashamed that a tv show can grip me like this.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:But regarding your specific comment -- which made me smile -- the same could be said of any of the proteins from the meal last night. How hard is it to cook salmon, scampi or squab -- or eggs benedict, for that matter? Many of us here have probably cooked all these items with success on multiple occasions (ok, probably not squab but you get the point ). One could argue that the scampi were the easiest because they cook so quickly -- they're never out of sight -- and their shorter cooktime allowed Hosea to spend more time on other things (an edge upon which he failed to capitalize).

Yes, I agree, but if I had to cook to impress a wide-ranging panel, given all those choices I'd choose roast chicken every time.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Just splitting hairs, of course. I'm ashamed that a tv show can grip me like this.

Me too. (It's a good thing we don't have a "South Park" section of LTHForum).

It was great to see Jacques Pepin (why couldn't Hosea say his name anywhere near correctly?) and listen to him analyze the dishes. At JT, he came across as wise and kind with sympathy for the contestants and their hard work. No wonder Carla was thrilled to be cooking his last meal.

This is my very first post here, and I hope it's ok that I don't live in Chicago! I too loved Jacques Pepin, he (along with Eric Ripert from the previous episode) was kind and lacking the harsh brutality that so many of the guest judges have. I appreciate that type of professionalism.

The one comment I absolutely prize from the whole show is Tom Colicchio's "Don't embarrass me!" As if this show (or even this dinner) is all about him. Well, actually, it has been for the past couple years; the man's ego and general pissiness continue to amaze me. But this comment really takes the cake: demonstrating a complete and total lack of understanding of, much less compassion for, these contestants and what they are going through, his only comment is about himself. His final words are not encouragement, not inspiration, but a wish that HE not be embarrassed. Gee, Tom, do you think these people want to embarrass themselves in front of that panel of diners? What's wrong with you?

I completely disagree. I wish he'd go more R. Lee Ermey on them in the crunch. "Chef Snowball! That dish is so ugly a puke-eatin' dog would send it back and order a salad! Where the hell are you from, Chef Snowball? Boulder? Only two things they have in Boulder...."

Dmnkly wrote:In any case, you're right, they absolutely could serve that purpose. Bottom line is either you believe they're sincere or you don't. I see more potential detriment than benefit in that kind of manipulation, and call me naive, but I trust the integrity of an awful lot of people who have spent their online time "explaining". But hey, YMMV.

(As far as this episode though, Pepin chose to criticize Leah's dish, not Stefan's when given the opportunity. Are you questioning the integrity of Jacques Pepin?!?!?!)

Jacques Pepin that lyin' schemin' whore

I love Jacques too, he's a cuddly teddy bear . . . but anytime someone comes out later, like Pepin did, and says basically, "oh yeah, didn't mention this earlier but . . . ," my ears prick up. Sounds like a justification. Look, some people out there take these blogs like they're the word of God, and really, they have repeatedly served to justify, the day after, the decisions of the judges. In 9 cases out of 10, the blogs imply that the booted contestants' dish was way worse than it was shown on camera or that the booted contestant screwed up in some bigger way than you saw as a viewer (yeah, because the producers have every incentive to be polite and edit out the most frank comments). IMO you cannot take the blogs as frank comments -- who knows who actually writes them or edits them or how comments are elicited for them?

Does anyone really think that the producers would allow Collicchio to say whatever he wanted in a blog?