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Top Chef

Week 1

This was the opening week of Top Chef Season 5, New York.  17 new chefs arrived, only 16 were going to get to go to the kitchen.

Quickfire Challenge

To start the show the contestants have to do a "Quickfire Challenge" which is generally a skills test.  In the first week the loser of the quickfire challenge was getting a trip home.  17 chefs but only 16 moving on.

The quickfire challenge this week was all about applies.  For their first test they had to peel 15 applies WITHOUT using a peeler.  That's a test which is somewhat harder than it sounds - especially as so many people have gotten used to doing it with peelers and have lost or forgotten the skills required to do it with a knife.

Here's a video that demonstrates the technique: Peel apples with a paring knife.

In this challenge Tom was going to be the judge and when the contestants were ready they'd have him check to make sure they had successfully peeled the apples, not to much flesh removed, no peel still on.  The first 8 contestants to finish successfully were going to be excused from the rest of the challenge - they were moving on to the kitchen.  The next 8 were going to have to move on to round 2...

Observation: When I watched the show on Wednesday night they showed Richard slicing his thumb while peeling the apples.  When I show parts of the show in re-run later in the week it looked like the may have edited that part out.  Not sure if the producers thought it was a little gory or if they just wanted to shorten the show a bit to fit in one more commercial.

In the second part of the challenge the 9 remaining contestants had to brunoise the peeled apples. 

Here's a video that demonstrates the technique (albeit with an carrot): How to Cut Brunoise Carrots

A key element of the technique is that the squares are a clean 1/8th inch cube.  Tom asked them to brunoise 2 cups of apple and they had to be checked by him to make sure the cuts were clean.  The first five contestants to brunoise 2 cups of apples to Tom's satisfaction were sent to join the first 8 contestants; they too were going to the kitchen.

The last part of the Quickfire was that the remaining four contestants had to use the apples (and other ingredients provided) to cook a dish that proved that they deserved to be on the show.  Only the three most successful dishes would prevail, the fourth would get a free trip home.

Lauren and Pat, whom we found out earlier were pals at culinary school, both opted for cold Apple salads.  Radhika and Leah both chose to make use of the provided burners and went with hot dishes: pan seared pork for Radhika and seared scallops for Leah.

In the end it was Lauren who went home.  Her salad was just a bit too common I guess.

Elimination Challenge

For the elimination challenge the 16 remaining contestants were paired up and sent to various neighborhoods of New York to cook dishes, head to head, that were influenced by those neighborhoods.

I won't detail the whole challenge (there are other sites below that will if you want) but at the end Pat and Ariane were singled out as the bottom two.  Pat because his dish largely lacked inspiration and his black noodles had poor texture and Ariane because she badly undercooked part of her dish.  And it was young Pat who was sent home.

On the winner's side Eugene, Stefan and Leah are compared and Stefan takes home the second win of the day.  Leah had a bit of an advantage - cooking Italian food when that's sort of her specialty.  Eugene managed to stumble into an Indian classic when he had never cooked Indian food before.  That's pretty impressive.

Observations and Random Stuff

  • At the apartment Stefan and Danny got into an argument about whether or not a vinaigrette is an emulsion.  Stefan may have won the challenges but he lost the argument.  It is an emulsion.  Here's more on the subject.
  • Carla is a little unusual.  She seems nice and I'm sure she can cook.  But she just seems like...she's waiting for her spirit guides to tell her what to cook.  Hmmm....remains to be seen if that's going to get on my nerves over the course of the season. Quirky folks can make good TV.  In moderation.

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