Top Chef: Beef Tongue

It was all about the beef tongue on the last episode of Top Chef. It didn’t win, but it was in the final three. What made it memorable, besides that it is apparently one of Jimmy Fallon’s favorite dishes, is that the chefs created a little song for it the night before the elimination challenge and sang it to the judges at Judges’ Table. Yes, the chefs do get a little loopy in between challenges in their apartment/house/whatever where they have no connection to the outside world.

Click below to listen to the fabulous song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rKi_VF0Yvs[/youtube]

Quickfire Challenge

The episode started out with the Quickfire Challenge, which was to make fondue. There was a lot of talk about fondue parties from the seventies and how most of the chefs didn’t know the first thing about making fondue. Mike said he was born in the seventies so he didn’t know about these fondue parties and he never had fondue. I was also born in the seventies and it didn’t make me clueless to fondue, Mr. Fancy Pants chef. That could be why he was one of the bottom three in the challenge with his lamb covered in Moroccan spices and dipped in a feta cheese sauce. He also partly cooked the lamb so he missed the entire point of fondue.

Mike
Spiced Lamb Kabobs with Mint & Chili, Feta Cheese Fondue

Now the trick to this challenge that I haven’t mentioned yet is there was no guest judge. All the chefs had to pick their top three and their bottom three while not voting for themselves. While there was some worry that people would vote for their friends, I think they did end up voting for the best and worst dishes.


Tiffany
Apple Ricotta Fritter with Hazelnut Chocolate

Another person on the bottom was Tiffany. She made what looked like homemade donuts and chocolate sauce. Besides not being super exciting (even though I would eat it), I think it also went against what Padma gave as rules. Only rule was to make a unique fondue. Chocolate sauce isn’t unique. She also said that meant it shouldn’t be chocolate sauce with bananas dipped in it. Tiffany didn’t listen I guess. Neither did Richard. Actually, he did listen, but chose to ignore it. He made a chocolate sauce with bananas to dip into it. He didn’t come in on the bottom three, most likely because his sauce was really good, but why even go that way? Weirdo. He said that he thought he would have won if there was a judge and not his competitors. He felt they were just jealous. I think it was because it wasn’t unique enough.


Richard
Bananas with Amaretto, Ras El Hanout, Chili Chocolate, Liquid Nitrogen

The third person on the bottom was Fabio made a cheese and wine sauce with caviar on crackers. He said that it should be hot, but the cold ran out, which I have no idea what that means, but it sounded like he was making excuses for it not tasting like what he wanted it to taste like.


Fabio
Billini with Caviar, Creme Fraiche, Fromage Blanc & Bourdain Wine

As for the winners, Angelo was surprised he made it in the top three. He felt he took too much on and didn’t get it completely done in time. He had a goat cheese fondue with endive and walnuts to dip into it. Then he had a weird beet juice shooter. Some others thought it sounded too complicated, but it must have tasted like one of the best.


Angelo
Walnuts, Endice with Goat Cheese Fondue & Beet Juice Shooter

Another top winner was Antonia, who said she immediately thought of her mother eating at the Jewish deli when she was given the challenge so she made a smoked salmon on toast dish to go with her white wine and cheese fondue. There were a lot of “yum” noises from the other chefs when they tried it.


Antonia
Smoked Salmon on Toast, Fromage Blanc & Creme Fraiche Fondue

Dale made a really unique fondue since he made it like pho, but fondue-style. He said that pho has raw pieces of meat dropped into the soup and it slowly cooks it that way so he thought it would naturally adapt to a fondue-style of cooking. He was right, since he ended up as the overall quickfire winner. As the winner, he won a three-night stay in Napa Valley.


Dale
Pho with Beef, Bread, Charred Ginger, Lime, Sriracha & Broth

Elimination Challenge

The chefs had to cook for Jimmy Fallon’s birthday as part of their elimination challenge. They would be feeding him,  his family and the judges including Gail Simmons for this round. They were all shuttled into the talk show and before his audience they were able to select what they were going to be cooking. On a screen a bunch of images flashed by showing Jimmy’s favorite foods. Then two at a time, the chefs came up with cell phones and snapped a picture, hoping they would get something good.

Antonia was one of the first chefs and she got the only weird thing on the menu, beef tongue. The rest were things like pulled pork sandwiches, top ramen, chicken pot pie and sausage with peppers. Fabio got hamburger with fries. He said he never made a “booger” before. With his thick accent, he had a hard time saying it, so he said “booger” a few more times before he finally said “burger.” Carla wanted chicken pot pie really badly and was ecstatic when she got it. She flopped her arms around and shrieked. It was frightening.

The chefs were told three things that Jimmy didn’t like — mushrooms, mayonnaise and eggplant. Imagine if they were making birthday lunch for my friend Amy? She hates everything! It would be quite a challenge.

The next day they made the dinner at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Colicchio and Sons.What did I learn about that dinner? Jimmy Fallon loves baseball references! He mentioned that Antonia was given a curveball with the beef tongue, but she knocked it out of the park. He said that Richard bunted, when he could have hit for the fences. He was hoping for a home run with his dish. He also said that Angelo hit a home run with the sauce on his pulled pork. Jimmy Fallon is out of control with baseball! Beyond the baseball references, we also learned that Jimmy hated mayonnaise because he got his head stuck in between two bars when he was a kid and his grandmother used mayonnaise to pop his head out.


Richard
Ramen Noodles with Seared Pork Belly, Duck Legs & Duck Egg

I already mentioned Richard. He was given top ramen. He had never made it beyond the cheap stuff found in the grocery store. He wanted to prove that he could make stuff that didn’t involve a helmet, dried ice and a flame thrower to make good food, but I guess that plan backfired since that’s what Jimmy was looking for in the food. I think even without it, if it had been a little more exciting, it might have been in the top three. At least, it didn’t end up in the bottom. He was just in the middle of the pack, along with Mike who made sausage and peppers. Jimmy’s sister really liked it and apologized to her mother since she liked it so much, but it wasn’t good enough to make it to the top.


Mike
Sausage, Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Fennel & Parika

Winners

Antonia was a bit freaked out about the beef tongue since she had never made it or even tasted it before. It normally took 4-5 hours to make, but they only had two hours to cook. Richard helped her out by showing her how to pressure cook it. Mike said that the thought Richard was too nice to the other chefs, since he showed them techniques that they used and sometimes won. Mike said he wouldn’t do that. I think Mike had other things to worry about, such as his not exciting cooking. I never liked him before and not sure why he’s back on all stars. I’m waiting for him to go. When the judges and Jimmy tasted the beef tongue, they really liked it.


Antonia
Beef Tongue, Pumpernickel Rye, Caramelized Onions & Dill Slaw

Angelo said that he hadn’t been on the top lately since he hadn’t been cooking to his strengths, which was a lot of flavor. He decided to make a weird sauce for the pulled pork which consisted of coffee, dill and allspice. He said it sounded disgusting, but was going to be delicious. The judges and Jimmy agreed that it was. It looked delicious, but I do love pulled pork sandwiches and with them, it is all about the sauce. Before we move on though, I will leave you with this classy quote from the announcer guy on Jimmy Fallon, “I pull my own pork a lot, but if Angelo pulls it for me, God bless him.”


Angelo
Pulled Pork with Coffee, Dill, Allspice & Chipotle Rub, Coleslaw

While Antonia and Angelo had good dishes, they were not the big winner of the day. That would be Carla and her pot pie. Jimmy could tell a lot of love went into her making the dish. It was surprising it came out so well since she was freaking out about making a pot pie in two hours. The other chefs stayed out of her way, not so much to not interrupt her flow, but so that she didn’t do anything weird to their dishes in the process. She was given a lot of room to cook, which seemed to work to her advantage. When everyone was tasted it at the table, Tom was asked what he thought of the pot pie. He said he couldn’t answer since he was too busy eating. Jimmy said he didn’t want to stop eating it either. It really made me want pot pie. Hootie hoo for Carla!


Carla
Chicken Pot Pie with Carrots, Celery, Pea Salt & Herbs

Losers

As for the worst dishes, Tiffany ended up on the bottom with her chicken and dumplings that she made with a southwestern flair that really didn’t take like chicken and dumplings. It was more like chicken tortilla soup. Tom told her at Judges’ Table that chicken and dumplings was supposed to have a rich sauce with puffy dumplings, but what they got was a clear soup with flat, thin noodles.


Tiffany
Chicken, Dumplings with Poblano Chilies, Red Peppers, Cilantro & Lime

Dale overcompensated for being told last week that he managed to make pancetta bland, so he oversalted his Philly cheesesteak. Instead of a bun, he put it on a soft pretzel roll and forgot about the rock salt on the preztel so he seasoned his steak before putting it on the roll and the entire thing was just too much. At Judges’ Table, Jimmy told him it was so salty that he had to drink a keg of beer and he was actually intoxicated as he spoke to him. Excellent.


Dale
Philly Cheesesteak on a Pretzel Roll, Hot Sauce, Onions & Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Over salting wasn’t enough to send Dale home though! What was worse was Fabio’s “booger”, mostly because he didn’t use hamburger. He used a mix of other meat like brisket, short ribs and pork belly. He wanted to make it like a meatball and call it a burger. He also decided to take all the cheddar cheese and melt it into a sauce on the side in case no one liked it. Jimmy listed off what he didn’t like at the beginning of the challenge. Put the cheese on the burger! So what happened was everyone thought it tasted more like meatloaf on a bun rather than a hamburger. They also found the cheese sauce disgusting since the cheese curdled by the time it hit the table. Gross! That was enough reason to send Fabio home. I knew he was asked back on the show because he was a fan favorite. I never thought he was a very good chef. He can make a select few items really well, but he isn’t creative enough to be considered a Top Chef. I think him being sent home was long overdue.


Fabio
Hamburger, Melted Cheddar Cheese Sauce & Fries

Questions

  1. What would be on your list of favorite foods for the chefs to make for your birthday party? What would you tell them that they couldn’t use?
  2. Did any of the food from fondue to birthday lunch items look good enough for you to eat?
  3. Were you happy that Fabio was sent home? Who needs to be next on the list to go?
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