I’m trying to catch up on many recaps this weekend. I have a lot in the hopper to recap. I am going to start with a Top Chef recap and it probably won’t be terribly detailed. Moments ago I walked outside my door to check on the garden for less than five minutes, my legs turned to jelly and when I got back into the house I threw up. The crazy is strong today. But I’m feeling better now and hoping that Top Chef will make me hungry.
The Quickfire
For this week’s quickfire, they are joined a a James Beard Award Winning chef who is a baker, Chris Bianco. He’s also a “pizza master” according to Kevin. The quickfire challenge is to make the perfect dish using weird “flour-alternative” types of flour. I would not even know where to start with this. Brian Malarkey doesn’t have a clue either. Wow! There will be no immunity this week, But the winner gets $5,000. Melissa knows exactly what she is going to make. She’s making an almond flour based almond cake of some sort. Greg is also very confident with his tapioca flour pancakes. This quickfire is flying by.
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Brian Malarkey’s donut and ice cream looks like an epic fail. He says it is the worst thing he has ever made in the competition. Leeanne’s savory Vietnamese dish seems to be a hit. Eric made some sort of porridge that the guest chef liked. He also likes Greg’s pancakes. Stephanie’s purple gnocchi seems to go over well. Karen’s spinach falafel sounds interesting. Both Brians were in the bottom. Melissa, Gregg and Nini were in the top. The winner was Gregory.
The Elimination Challenge
This week’s elimination challenged to to feed the big wigs and orchestra member of the LA Philharmonic Symphony. The chefs draw knives to determine their flavor profiles. They must them pair up with another chef who has a different flavor profile and make one cohesive dish. Somehow, Leanne and Malarkey are the last two chosen and must pair up. This is bad. Leanne has umami and Malarkey has bitter. Holy shit! It’s a double elimination. Greg should be fine with Stephanie. Kevin and Melissa will probably win. I think we might lose Leeanne and Malarky this week. Eric is stuck with Brian V. who has been struggling lately. The concert hall is stunning. Leeanne and Malarkey’s disagreements began at Whole Foods. And it continues all the way through to plating.
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Greg and Stephanie’s dish goes out to the judges table first. Tom loves it. They all loved it. Next up is Kevin and Melissa. Their dish was also highly favored by everyone. Malarkey and Leeanne’s beef and bitter greens were also raved about by everyone. Up next is Eric and Voltaggio’s pork dish. Oh no. They had some moderate criticisms. They better not send Eric home! Karen and Nini don’t seem overly confident in their dish. And for good reason. Tom says that the tomatoes were not roasted and therefore not umami. These two are going home.
Judges’ Table
All of the chef pairs claimed that working together with their partner was great. The chefs loved all the dishes. They will make their decisions solely on who did the best job of combining the flavor profiles. Melissa and Kevin won. That does not surprise me at all. Melissa will probably win the entire season. Padma let Leeanne and Malarkey know they were a very close second. Greg and Brian and Karen and Nini are the bottom two team. They better not send Greg home! Shut your mouth Brian! Greg is not going home over you defending yourself to the judges. It seems like the judges are considering keeping everyone.
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In the end, it was Nini and Karen who went home. They go straight to Last Chance Kitchen. I need to watch that I haven’t watch and LCK. Please don’t spoil me, bro. Next week is the beginning of Restaurant Wars.
i’m really enjoying last chance kitchen this season and this week, it is a two parter. also tom is doing a “what would tom do?” each week. won’t spoil it but this week’s was a real eyebrow raiser for me.
did you have a low blood glucose episode? the liquor ain’t helping if you have glucose issues.
Or maybe mix your drink with OJ, lots of sugar in that!
Do NOT give me shit about my choice of treatment, I’m only kidding. Maybe. We all need TT safe and happy.
As for the episode, they said five tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami. I googled it and I still don’t understand what it is. I see tomatoes, turkey, cheese… huh? Someone please help me understand!
I’ve always thought it was a crock of fancypants chef shit, personally. It seems to be some sort of attempt to rebrand MSG.
You know that taste when you chew up meat or nuts or mushrooms? It’s kind of “meaty” and kind of NOT bitter, sour, sweet or salty? That other taste when you rule out the “usual” four? THAT’S umami. Think in terms of color — I would call olive drab, khaki, putty, sand, taupe, umber, maybe even mauve, umami.
Nuts, except almonds. Almonds turn sweet as you chew. Beans and chickpeas and cashews =umami.
So how does your explanation include tomatoes? It’s basically anything with natural MSG is “umami” which is not a singular flavor profile.
/ Insert Tamra Judge THAT’S MY OPINION!!!! GIF HERE.
All of my gifs are on the old computer and for some reason everything just wants to download files on this one. Still trying to recreate command central. Sigh.
I kept thinking of that episode on Friends when the girls scared Ross and yelled unagi at him bc he said he did karate.
I’ve always been skeptical of the whole umami thing. To me it’s like making up another element….fire, earth, water, air and tamol. Now it’s up to everyone to figure out wtf that is.
You are my people. It’s ridiculous.
Spoiler alert, it’s a campaign for MSG.
Omg, I just read an article that the no msg movement was based in xenophobia and racism. Yes, you are right about umami is foods with msg before or after cooking like roasted tomatoes. Who knew? This is just blowing my mind.
The no MSG thing I THINK MAYBE was about the artificial kind that the put on stuff at restaurants (especially Asian ones???) and the UMAMI crap is about MSG that naturally occurs in foods.
That said, this whole Umami taste thing is IN MY OPINION, crap. I imagine I could blind taste test these chefs with flavored paper strips and ask them to pick which flavor is “umami” and they would have no clue.
Exactly.
I’m happy to see I’m not the only one saying what the hell about the umami. I get a certain brand of hot dogs that say No Nitrates. Celery powder in the ingredients. Naturally occurring nitrates.
Umami is a flavor, y’all. It just means savory. Something savory isn’t necessarily sweet, sour, salty, or bitter.
Well said. Sounds like BS to me too. Or is it a whole new flavor profile? Being that it’s obscure and difficult to define says it all. I’m just going to call it “earthy.” But for the longest time I thought it was like edamame. Lol.
Another week of being annoyed with Brian Malarkey. I don’t like that he’s taking this competition as a lark (no pun intended) when the other chefs can really use the money for their business. He should have been able to figure out an alternative to his disappearing fried donut. Brian V, I love you but seriously, after appearing on Top Chef a few times and watching the other seasons, you must know that the highlighted ingredient is to take center stage in the dish. You can’t just make an insignificant crumble. You worry me. Gregory, glad you got the win. Big fan of yours and of pancakes. I liked the Elimination challenge, it was interesting to see learn how the preparation of a food changes how it reacts with other foods. Roasted tomato would be savory; uncooked tomato caused sweetness in the dish. Sorry to see the eliminated chefs depart but they left feeling great about their dish. Go Melissa!
I’m worried about Brian. The judges love his food but he is not showcasing the challenge demands. It seems like Brian and Eric’s big mistake was the way they sliced their pork. Their flavors were there but the sweetness was lacking in proportion to the their other main flavor. Loving Melissa Kevin and Gregory. They are so passionate, calm and confident when cooking or presenting their food. Malarkey is really irritating me. He tends to puff up his description of his food with a ridiculous cockiness. I think trying to be a great salesman and trying to develop himself as a brand will get him no where. If a chef’s food is that good it will speak for its self.
And they have him on several times per episode. Very freaking annoying and I was hoping he would be eliminated. He never shuts up and is such an ass kisser to the judges. I really want him to go home soon.
Malarkey has been so heavily featured. I’m always thinking is this the episode they send him home. I suppose you have to keep an asshole on for entertainment value. I’d rather root for a chef like Erik or Melissa. I know, lots of excellent chefs on All Stars.
VAGICIDE this episode!!!