Quickfire Challenge: Guest judge Gavin Kaysen (who represented the United States in the Bocuse d'Or, which is like the cooking Olympics) challenges them to create a version of Gavin's competition dish, where they have to do a protein inside a protein inside a protein (like a turducken, for example) in ninety minutes. The winner is Jennifer, who made a seafood version with calamari, salmon, and scallops, along with a side rice noodle salad. When Padma tasted it, she even told Jen, "Welcome back."
Elimination Challenge: Each cheftestant will create "a regal presentation platter" with one protein and two garnishes. The garnishes can't just be some parsley or a schmear of a puree – they must be intricate and show off technique, as they would be in the real Bocuse d'Or. They get four hours to cook, and Jen gets an extra 30 minutes due to her Quickfire win, and they have to use either lamb or salmon as their protein. They'll be cooking for 12 judges, including Thomas Keller.
Here's what they made:
Kevin: Lamb loin poached in caramelized lamb fat and olive oil, with garnishes of sherry-glazed pickled Swiss chard stems, and baked asparagus with sunchoke cream and buttered toast. Kevin decided to cook the lamb sous vide and required advice from Bryan, since he doesn't normally use that technique. He also decided to go simple with his presentation, even though they were told that elaborate presentation was part of the competition, and the judges noticed.
Michael: Cauliflower and chickpea cake, sous vide salmon with crab and zucchini, tzatziki stuffed with salmon belly tartar, and a champagne-tomato ganache. He claims his direction was Mediterranean, but the judges found some of the flavors didn't match the theme, and the execution wasn't quite there.
Bryan: Parley-crusted loin of lamb, crepinette made with lamb shank and finished with a caponata, and orzo pasta stewed with sheep's milk cheese. The judges thought the presentation was beautiful and the concept was great, but the execution was lacking, since his lamb was undercooked.
Eli: Lamb sausage crusted with pistachios and wrapped around different parts of the lamb, carved tableside, with garnishes of ras el hanout and carrot puree with yogurt foam, and a tomato and piquillo pepper marmalade with caper berry on top of a brioche crouton, served with an arugula and tarragon coulis. All of the judges feel that the lamb is carved and cooked poorly, which is unforgiveable, especially since there were big chunks of uncooked fat in the sausage. Yuck.
Jen: Lightly poached salmon topped with caviar and enoki mushrooms, shrimp flan topped with cold salad of snap peas, chervil and truffles, and celery root cut into squares with shiitake mushrooms. Some of the judges get undercooked salmon, but they all like the flavors of the dishes. Some feel that the overall concept is messy, but others think it was the most interesting and beautiful platter of the evening.
The judges decide that the winner is Kevin, because he executed perfectly, even if his concept was a little more simple than they would have liked. He wins $30,000 and the chance to compete to represent the United States in the Bocuse d'Or. Plus, you know, he gets to move on in the competition. And then Eli is told to pack his knives and go, so the Fab Four is the Final Four, as everyone who watched any part of this season predicted. I do have to say that any of them could win, especially since Jen seems to be making a comeback.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Everyone gets dressed in the morning to prepare for that day's challenges. Bryan puts on a silver studded belt that seems very un-Bryan. I would imagine him to be more of the brown or black plain leather kind of dude. He interviews that he is worried about his restaurant back home, and whether it's going to succeed, but he has to put that aside. Kevin puts on a necklace that looks like rosary beads. What is with everyone wearing fancy accessories this week? Kevin interviews that he misses his wife. Eli interviews that Richard Blais is his mentor, and they've been friends a long time, so now Eli wants to win the competition for both of them. Jen interviews that she started off strong but has really sucked lately (no shit, Sherlock). Mike doesn't get a little interview. Maybe the editors are as sick of his horseshit as some viewers seem to be.
The cheftestants enter the kitchen and find Padma standing there with Gavin Kaysen. Padma gives a little speech about how far they all have came, and then introduces Kaysen, who represented the U.S. in the world's most difficult cooking competition, the Bocuse d'Or. Kaysen explains a dish he famously made when he competed, which was a ballotine made of crawfish, inside of foie gras, inside of chicken liver, inside of chicken. So if you've heard of turducken, it's the same concept, but using different and interesting proteins. Kaysen explains that it took him four months to figure out how to make the dish, and Padma says that of course, the cheftestants will have far less time. Their Quickfire will be to create a version of Gavin's dish in ninety minutes, with a protein inside a protein inside a protein. Padma adds that they no longer give out immunity, but the winner will get an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.
The cheftestants immediately hop to. Bryan thinks the people who have made a ballotine before will have an advantage, though of course we don't know who has made one and who has not. Presumably those with formal culinary training have. Michael has decided to follow what he thinks is the spirit of the law and not the letter, and make a terrine, which is sort of a loaf of forced-meat. So I'm guessing the proteins are spread throughout instead of wrapped around one another? Kevin is dubious about Mike's approach. Kevin and Eli are best buddies apparently, since they knew one another before coming there, and they both like to cook homestyle food. Jen falls into that category of people who've never made a ballotine before, but she plans to stick to seafood, since she knows that well. Michael interviews that Jen has sucked lately, and he thinks she's on the way out. I mean, he uses more words, but that's basically what he says. God, he's arrogant. I mean, he's kind of right with the first part about Jen sucking, but hopefully not so much with the second part, about her not being able to pull it together. With minutes left, everyone runs around and schmears purees on a plate and finally plates their food.
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