Given the snow coming down outside our window here in New York, the setting of last night's episode of Top Chef—the sunny landscape of Dan Barber's Stone Barns—was almost cruel. It was sort of a high-low episode, really, with the chefs first having to make a dish from canned goods, then getting to cook with seasonal produce straight from the farm. Oh, and Toby Young was back with his metaphors. ("The pesto is the big, bad wolf that has blown this house down.")
Note: We reveal the winner and loser below...
So, here were our thoughts. Tell us yours in the comments.
1. Presentation can make a silk purse from a sow's ear. In the quickfire, the chefs had to use (primarily canned) pantry staples to make a dish in 15 minutes. There was a lot of puréed peas and Velveeta. And yet everything looked so lovely! If it's true that you eat with your eyes first, we enjoyed some very beautiful Spam last night.
2. Jeff loves his multi-mini-dish plates. Boy does he fall back on the tapas-like presentation a lot. But we're rooting for Jeff. He's so cool under pressure, he went out on a limb and made fried conch (from a can), and he also managed to whip up a piña colada in the 15 minutes.
3. Are they trying to torture us with the tomatoes and corn? Not that we didn't already know this, but it was summer when they filmed the episode, hence the bountiful produce at Stone Barns (which is in upstate New York). Thanks, Top Chef. Now we're craving tomato salad while we watch it snow.
4. We're glad they stopped short of killing the animals on camera. When the chefs were surveying their live produce—sheep, chicken, and pigs—we thought, "Oh no. They are going to butcher the animals on television." Thankfully, the meat was already processed and waiting inside the kitchen. (Although we did get a very unfriendly glimpse of a skinned lamb head. Did you catch that?)
5. With seasonal cooking, all the dishes tend to look similar. This is not a bad thing, mind you. All of the fresh tomato and corn salads and bright green garnishes/pestos/marinades were exactly what we'd expect and would want to eat in July or August. Good ingredients should be left alone to shine. But we imagine it was hard to judge, really, when all of the produce was so uniform from team to team...
6. ...which is why it came down to the meat... Kudos to the chicken team, who shared the win. We felt bad for them at first, since we think it would be harder to wow with chicken than with really superb lamb or pork. But they offered variations (fried cutlets as well as roasted on-the-bone meat) and cooked it perfectly.
7. ...and why Ariane went home. She did a bad job butchering and tying the lamb, something we wouldn't know how to do if our lives depended on it, so we sympathize. We can tell Padma agreed with us; she seemed genuinely sad to see Ariane go. When Dan Barber tasted the lamb, by the way, we thought he said, "The lamb is the best." But then we rewound and realized he said, "The lamb is a mess." Whoops.
8. Pretty meat doesn't win. The chefs obviously wanted to see the meat treated more simply—less dainty medallions and roulades, more bones and fat.
9. We may make a trip to New Jersey. Sorry, we're back to Ariane. But seriously, she won over her fellow chefs and the viewers with her sweet disposition, teamwork, and genuinely good food. We may cross the bridge to Montclair, NJ and visit her restaurant.
10. Stefan is the leading European. Fabio has been falling off the map a little in the past few weeks. Is Stefan the guy to beat? We're so conflicted. He's nice, he's mean, he's funny, he's awful...
What do you think?
Related:
Episode 1: Ethnic Foods Galore
Episode 2: Hot Dogs and Angry Chefs
Episode 4: Lights, Camera, Kathie Lee Gifford
Episode 5: Make Your Own Sushi at a Bridal Shower?
Episode 6: And a Martha in a Pear Tree
Episode 7: Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizzle
(Images: Bravo)
I hated the drawn-out torture at the judges' table where they discuss the lamb team members' faults--they were clearly going to send Ariane home, and I just wanted them to get it over with. I'm glad she wasn't sent home during the first couple of episodes like a lot of us thought she should be. So yes, it's sad. But I did cringe when I saw her pounding that lamb.
I'm glad Carla shared in the win. Talk of her tart made me think back to all the praise for Lindsey Shere's simple but amazing tarts scattered throughout Thomas Mcnamee's biography on Alice Waters and Chez Panisse.
This episode made me crave fried green tomatoes.
You might think Stephan's the leading European, but Fabio's commentary is one of the best parts of watching the show!
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Fabio's commentary makes me laugh out loud!!!
view willson's profile
"He's nice, he's mean, he's funny, he's awful..." sounds like a typical twisted chef. His style is solid though, it's hard to argue with that.
I did a little "post-game analysis" for fun after the challenge:
The challenge was to "honor" the free-range, organic, humanely raised livestock that gave up it's life for their dishes. An honorable challenge especially after meeting the people who raised the animals from birth to slaughter. This was all a about the protein.
Here's what I saw:
Jeff: South Beach, Miami: Butchered a clean, lean piece of pork tenderloin (already lean). I don't think you'll be finding a lot of braised fatty cuts at the DiLDO club--not good for supermodels and glitterati.
Arian: NY/NJ: Allegedly over manipulated baby lamb legs. French, fine-dining background. Expensive lamb rack was impeccable and lamb leg was less than perfect (given a second try, however, I know it would be another story).
Jamie: San Francisco: Her style came through naturally here. I thought it was funny when presented with canned goods--she treated them the same way she would pristine ingredients--with little adornment and manipulation. I think Stefan should be given credit too as his roots are most likely based in a "farm to table" mentality.
So here's the lesson: Know your audience. What do they expect? What is their philosophy? What do they serve in their restaurant?
And 85 degrees or not, chicken soup was brilliant. Not a single part of the chicken went to waste. They knew their audience (perhaps better than Tom did). Not to stray but when I was at the NYC Greenmarket this past summer I saw Craft porters all over the market with carts doing their shopping for the restaurant(s)--very impressive.
And if you do go to Ariane's restaurant tell her husband I say hi--he was one of my early mentors, an extremely talented chef himself.
view art's profile
I believe this was the second time someone has said something derogatory about 'housewives,' so that kind of pissed me off right off the bat. I bet I could have made something better than most of those dishes from my pantry. OK, maybe not in 15 minutes, but still. Seriously, Spam, in what, two or three dishes?
That Team Pork lost was unbelievable. IT'S PORK. What a FAIL. But a little green tomato did save them, apparently. And how does Ariane not know how to tie a roast? Sheesh. Still, I wish Leah would have gone instead.
Not one of the chefs from this crop can hold a candle to anyone in the previous seasons. Hell, even the hated Lisa was head and shoulders above the best of these people, so it's pretty disappointing.
BTW, did anyone catch (shameful confession) Brian Malarkey on the Real housewives of OC this week?
view Peggasus's profile
Hmph. I have a lot of dislike of Leah this week. She acted like a 12 year old - the whispering to Hosea during judgement was beyond horrible.
...and yes, Ariane should have gone home, but her team members are in deep disgrace. Leah tied the roast very poorly and it sent Ariane into a deeper hole than she was already in.
view theskyisfalling's profile
I still have a soft spot for Fabio. I think he's much nicer than Stefan. I also like the way he pronounces "Colicchio."
view sundancemoods's profile
I think Hosea and Leah set up Ariane for failure. During judging they admitted to knowing how to do the butchering and tying but let Ariane do it ---because why? Because they were afraid to take it on. Ariane was sort of hit or miss but she never backed down from a challenge, that's why I think she should have stayed.
view Nikita's profile
What a waste of an animal. :(
view sleggo's profile
I agree with Peggasus about the derogatory comments about housewives! Home cooking is where most people get their first influences about the greatness of good nutrition and food - provided by everyday housewives making do with what they have. I also was irritated about their complaints about canned food. Canning is a miracle invention that has made it possible for people to eat garden grown food in the winter months, travel to distant lands and survive wars (yay, Spam!). I am not impressed by the small minded attitude and lack on imagination with this group of Top Cheftestants.
view jgphotomom's profile
Elizabeth P - why wouldn't you want to see the animal being slaughtered? Why was it so horrible that you saw a skinned lamb's head?
It's important to know where your food comes from and part of that is being close to it's real state. Lamb that was once happily wandering around fields has to be skinned before being served to you on a plate. It's reality so sometimes, you need to see it to truly appreciate the life you are eating.
view sodapresents's profile
I think Leah should have gone home. I didn't realize until the promo for the next episode that they are probably keeping her around for the "chemistry" between her and Hosea. Yuck. At least Ariane was willing to work hard.
view graefix's profile
I didn't take the housewife comment as particularly derogatory. Though it could have been expressed better, I took the point to be people without a lot of time are more used to being creative with typical pantry ingredients.
As for Toby Young, he's a disaster as a judge for this show. He seems to think he's judging a show that requires snark at the expense of the contestants. The other judges understand that these people are talented and the challenges can be difficult and stressful. Regardless, they are honest without having to make the chefs the butt of a joke for the purpose of TV.
view GL's profile
Sodapresents --
No offense, but after 28 years on a dairy, taking an animal life is still hard to watch. I think subjecting a wide audience to that, that are expecting to just watch a cooking show, wouldn't have added to the show. I think they made their point (appreciating where your food comes from and that it was a breathing, living soul) without having to go to that extreme. To see a chicken, lamb, and pig slain on Top Chef wouldn't make it Top Chef. It would be Top Slaughterhouse.
view mamaspank's profile