Top Chef: Boring Chicken Salad

Tom essentially told Grayson that chicken salad sandwich was too boring and wasn’t sure why she chose to make it for the block party. Grayson countered saying that it wasn’t any less boring than making meatballs. Tom usually has the last word to say if any chef challenges him at Judges’ Table, but he just started to laugh since I think he agreed with her at that point.

Quickfire Challenge

The guest judges for the Quickfire Challenge were Cat Cora and Emeril Lagasse. The chefs had 2 pounds of shrimp, a crate full of corn and ingredients for pasta in front of them. They were split into teams (Ed/Paul, Sarah/Lindsay and Grayson/Chris). They had 40 minutes to peel, devein and butterfly the shrimp, shuck the corn and make a perfect pound of fettuccine. When they had all their parts approved by the judges, they had the remaining time to make a dish using those ingredients. There was be no immunity,  but the winning team won $10,000.

The pasta needed to rest before rolling it out so one person on each team worked on the pasta first. Cat was very concerned with how Grayson was overworking her pasta. She didn’t think she added enough moisture and had too much flour in her dough. Lindsay thought Grayson talked too much while she was deveining the shrimp. While Grayson was blabbing, Lindsay finished shucking her corn and got that approved. Paul tried to get his corn approved right after, but he had left too much corn on the cob so Chris got his approved just before Paul. Sarah was the first one done with her pasta, followed soon after by Ed and then finally Grayson. Sarah was the last one to get her corn approved, but that meant both her and Lindsay were the first team to start cooking. Paul and Ed were ready to cook with 10 minutes left and Grayson and Chris only had 8 minutes to make their dish.


Edward & Paul
Fettuccine with Corn, Zucchini Flowers, Chanterelle Mushrooms, and Parmesan

Paul forgot to saute the shrimp so didn’t get it done in time. Their dish was disqualified. Padma said it was too bad since the flavors were really nice.


Sarah & Lindsay
Fettuccine with Corn Milk, Shrimp, Tarragon & Parsley

Cora said the idea of the corn milk was fantastic. She would not have used tarragon since it is very overpowering, but it was a tasty dish. The pasta was beautiful.


Grayson & Chris J.
Fettuccine, Toasted Corn, Poached Shrimp, Chili, Bacon & Rosemary

Emeril said they loved how they used the chili with the shrimp. Cat was worried about Grayson’s pasta. She would have done something differently with the bacon. Chris dropped it in the deep fryer to get it crisp. Cat suggested they could have used the wood oven to render some of the fat to get the flavor in there. It was the best executed dish though so they won the Quickfire Challenge and each won $5,000.

Elimination Challenge

The chefs had to cook against their teammate from the Quickfire Challenge for the Elimination Challenge. They made food for a community food drive that supported the San Antonio Food Bank. They had to create a dish for 200 people and each team had to make the same dish so the guests of the block party could pick out their favorite from each pair. Grayson and Chris decided to make chicken salad sandwiches and watermelon salad. Paul and Ed made Asian Beef BBQ with pickled veggies. Lindsay and Sarah made meatballs with vegetable salad. After they chose their dishes, Padma informed them that they had to make healthy versions of all their dishes. The winner would get $15,000.

Chris decided to avoid using mayo and was using tofu to imitate mayo. He said he had tricked people into thinking it was mayo before. Grayson decided to do her sandwiches to order, which Chris thought was risky. Grayson did have a long line of people due to making everything to order, but she said it was too hot and she didn’t want her bread to get dry. Bees kept trying to attack Chris while he was putting his dish together for everyone. Padma, Tom, Emeril and Cat were joined by Dana Cowin of Food & Wine magazine to taste the dishes.

Asian BBQ Beef


Paul
Turkey Kalbi, Eggplant with White Peach Kimchi

A guy from Healthy Choice loved what Paul did since it proved you don’t have to take out the flavor when cooking healthy food. Emeril thought ground turkey was brilliant. He loved the simplicity of the dish. Cat said he did all the right things like adding acid to build flavor instead of fat.


Edward
Open Face Kalbi, Kimchi Chipotle Puree, Pickled Cucumber & Daikon

Cat was expecting more. Her piece of meat was a little chewy. Tom said there was too much bun to meat. There wasn’t enough there. Emeril gave him credit for making his own healthy bread. Padma said her bread was hard and dry.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches


Grayson
Chicken Salad Sandwich with Arugula, Pickled Red Onion, Feta Watermelon Salad with Pumpkin Seeds

Grayson said she used very little mayo. Some guests loved her dish and thought it was the best out of all the dishes. Emeril was a bit taken aback by them choosing to do chicken salad sandwich for a block party, but he did like that Grayson chose to do her dish to order. Cat said the watermelon salad needed some lime or mint to freshen it up a little bit. Dana said while Grayson made her chicken salad sandwich healthy, it did not have a whole lot of flavor.


Chris J. 
Chicken Salad Sandwich with Tofu “Mayo,” Red Lettuce, Watermelon Fruit Salad with Pineapple Ice

Tom really liked that Chris made a tofu mayo and he loved the curry flavoring in it. He wished he would have made the sandwich to order. Padma found his watermelon salad more flavorful. Dana said that they could put it in the blender again with a little vodka.

Meatballs


Sarah
Calabrese Style Turkey Meatball & Vegetable Salad

Emeril liked Sarah’s healthier meatball version and did not find it too dry. He also loved the sauce. Tom thought the salad was really great. It had a ton of flavor and was the perfect summer salad. Dana said she thought she had a different salad. She ended up with only zucchini and arugula.


Lindsay
Mediterranean Meatball, Lemon Yogurt, Black-Eyed Peas & Quinoa Greek Salad

Cat thought it looked heavy but it didn’t taste that way. She loved the crunch of the pita bread and the yogurt on the bottom. Tom said Lindsay’s meatball had tons of flavor in it. He loved the lemon and acid in it. Dana said it was great and original. She said it was hard to healthy, tasty and original. She was impressed.

Judges’  Table

Winner

Grayson, Paul and Lindsay were the winners of the competition. Emeril told Paul that he loved his use of spices in the turkey meat. Tom told him the hot sauce was great and he should bottle it. He said the peaches were the best thing he ate all day. Cat told Grayson that she loved she made the sandwiches to order. Emeril told Lindsay that he loved the lemon aspect of the dish and the meatball was seasoned perfectly. Cat said the yogurt was phenomenal. Cat said the overall winner had a healthy version of a dish that just rocked. The winner was Paul.

Losers

Ed didn’t want to use rice since it was empty calories so he made a pita-like bread. Padma said that bread was empty calories too. He said that maybe that was a stretch while Tom just laughed. Cat said it was a commendable decision to make his own bread, but the rest of the dish would have needed to be perfect and it wasn’t. Tom said he understood his reasoning for trimming the fat out of short ribs to make it healthier, but that really took away the flavor out the short rib. Chris thought his dish was healthier compared to Grayson and Tom agreed, but Tom said that he made the sandwiches ahead of time. He took them out there and they weren’t wrapped up so the bread dried out. Cat thought that Sarah could have lost the cheese in her dish and added more fat. Tom said there was inconsistency in the salad since Dana didn’t get any of the vegetables that Tom did in his salad.

Cat said that none of the dishes were a lost cause. Tom said that Sarah had the unfortunate luck of going up against Lindsay. Sarah made a good meatball, but Lindsay’s meatball was excellent. Tom appreciated that Chris made his dish healthy, but he took the salt out completely. Emeril agreed saying the chicken and bread were dry. Tom said that again and again Chris has one idea after another, but he can’t execute them well. Cat said that Ed’s dish was a tiny piece of bread with a tiny piece of chewy meat on top of it with pickles.

Final Decision

Tom told Sarah that she made a good meatball, but she went up against a much tougher opponent. Tom told Chris that he appreciated he made the dish as healthy as possible, and taking out the salt and fat is part of that, but watching the sandwiches sit out in the sun was not the best choice. Tom told Ed that just cutting off the fat wasn’t enough. He needed to be more serious about the challenge and make a really flavorful dish. He missed the mark on both cases. Padma asked Chris J. to pack his knives and go.

Last Chance Kitchen

The chefs had mystery boxes on their station and had 30 minutes to create a dish using all the ingredients in the box. Also while cooking additional mystery boxes could show up and they had to incorporate those ingredients into the dish. The first box had weird things in it like marshmallow, pine nuts, cinnamon, parsnips and lamb. The second box came out and it had radicchio in it. The last box came out and it was white anchovies.


Beverly
Grilled Lamb Chop with Parsnips, Curry, Radicchio & White Anchovy Vinaigrette

Tom said the lamb was nicely cooked and tender. It had the sweetness of the parsnips but it wasn’t too sweet. He really liked she used mushrooms that added an earthiness to the dish.


Chris J.
Grilled Lamb Chop with a Sweet Puree, Radicchio Salad with Pancetta, Pine Nuts & Apple

Tom told Chris that the lamb was also cooked and seasoned perfectly. He thought the orange added a nice touch.

Overall, Tom said the chefs essentially used the same ingredients and didn’t got to the pantry to grab much else. They plated it similarly so they were pretty much the same dishes from two very different chefs. He said that there were only subtle differences but one chef did a much better job weaving the ingredients together. It was Beverly so she had won two battles in a row. If she won one more, she would be back in the Top Chef competition.

Questions

  1. Do you agree that chicken salad sandwiches are too boring or do you agree with Grayson that meatballs are also boring?
  2. They were supposed to make healthy dishes but some seemed a bit healthier than others. Do you think that should have been taken into account as well and not just leave it up to the block party guests’ votes?
  3. Do you agree with Chris being sent home? Do you agree with what Tom said that he constantly had great ideas, but just didn’t execute them well?

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