A serious lack of DVR over the weekend and then trying to catch up on other things since we’ve returned kept me from properly revisiting the Thanksgiving episode of Top Chef, but late is better than never, right? So let’s keep the preliminaries short and just dig in.
That seemed to be the idea behind the editors as well, as we were mercifully spared much of the “set up” stories all reality competitions use to give you an idea of who the focus of the episode will be that week. Ariane complains about being in the bottom too often, Richard talks about how Team Rainbow will live on, and Stefan congratulates Fabio on his win again.
So we’re quickly taken back to the kitchen and prepare for the Quickfire challenge, which I think is one of my absolute favorites in the history of the series, as it focuses on being able to be quickly adaptable and creative on the fly. The guest chef is Chicago chef Grant Achatz, who is yet another “molecular gastronomy” chef, but has also battled cancer. So it does make sense that the challenge is focused around rolling with said punches, given that the poor guy had freaking cancer of the tongue. Jeezy Creezy.
Drawing knives out of the block, they see that each has a random number, which translates into a page in the Top Chef cookbook, which came out during Season Four and mostly encompasses recipes from the first three seasons. Their challenge is this: they have 60 minutes to reinvent the recipe on their page into something new. The chefs all seem pretty confident at this point, and that swagger that was present in the last episode among the reject chefs came to light here as the current contestants downplayed the difficulty of the recipes they had to work with. Ah, a chef and his/her ego…
…until Padma excitedly yells “STOP! STOP!! We’ve changed our minds!”Ten minutes into cooking, she announces that the challenge will change–they are to use the ingredients from their recipe and turn them into a soup, using Swanson broths. Some of the chefs are pissed, including Fabio who kept muttering “soup? Soup?” as he tried to figure out how to take a duo of salmon and trout and turn it into a soup. Jamie, the creator of the cold corn soup from last episode, is naturally thrilled with the curveball because she’d be happy making only soups for the rest of her life. As someone who adores soup, I have to say that there’s nothing wrong with that! Fortunately, she has some great ingredients to work with as she was recreating Miguel’s deconstructed falafel sandwich from season 1. Leah (the chef who’s seriously crushing on Hosea) has to work with white asparagus, and she hates white asparagus.
Jamie and Leah are among the top soups, with the win going to Leah. Her prize is being able to pick her team of six other chefs to work with, so naturally she picks Fabio, Jamie, Stefan, Radikah, Melissa (girl with crazy bangs) and Hosea, her mega-crush. The way they are allowing her to do this makes me think that they’ll pull a Saved by the Bell twist and switch the “leaders” like they did in that Cadet training episode, but no dice. The remaining team is miffed that they are not seen to be as “talented”–or maybe they’re just pissed they have to work with Ariane, a perennial bottom two-getter. Each team devises a silly name–Leah’s team is “Team Sexypants,” and Ariane’s is “Team Cougars,” named after their older Jersey mom. She’s completely nonplussed by them calling her a “cougar”–she’s more interested in not being in the bottom two, methinks.
The challenge is having to make Thanksgiving dinner–keep in mind that this was filmed in the heat of summer, by the way–for the Foo Fighters and their entourage up in Rochester, and they are looking for all the fixings. Each team receives a copy of the band’s rider which includes likes such as bacon and chocolate covered bananas, and restrictions including catering to vegetarians. Their “kitchen” is presented to them–an outdoor space that gives each team one burner, a bunch of toaster ovens and some microwaves, along with some mixers and other small appliances. Ariane is in charge of the turkey for the Cougars, and it’s clear her teammates don’t have that much faith in her, which leads me to wonder why they made her in charge of the Thanksgiving centerpiece. Jeff, Hair-lite from Miami, emerges as a leader and is admirably organized as he mobilizes the team–he’s not about the power, but more about keeping everyone focused. Eugene devised a smoker to make some pork loin, which is extremely impressive given the constrained circumstances.
The Sexypants are working well together, but they are not receiving nearly the amount of attention that the Cougars are because the theme of this Thanksgiving episode is one of redemption for the “unchosen” chefs. We get some glimpses of Stefan and Jamie butting heads over turkey preparation, but otherwise we see very little. When rain starts falling over the chefs and tents are quickly set up, Fabio does declare that he will NOT get rain into is pumpkin tirimasu.
Service finally comes, and the Cougars are up first. Padma is in a cute little concert outfit, Richard squees over Tom, even with the cuteness of Dave Grohl right next to him. The Foos and the judges dig Ariane’s turkey and Eugene’s pork, but the stuffing is dry (and Jeff created that). Alex’s five-cheese macaroni with bacon is a huge hit with Dave, and later declares that he loves him some bacon.
Sexypants are up next–Radika’s vegan stuffing was the hit of the night, and the sweet potatoes are delicious because the marshmallows have been burned. This is a major detail to Dave. Their turkey, however, is not as delicious as Ariane’s. Reactions to their other dishes have been edited out, and we move to desserts.
The Cougars have created a pumpkin mousse parfait, banana s’mores with a chocolate ganache and a peach cobbler, while Sexypants presented the aforementioned pumpkin tirimasu and a peach and blueberry crisp–Dave tries speaking some Italian to Fabio and unintentionally (I hope) calls it disgusting, to which Fabio rejoins with a “what are you calling disgusting?”. Tom loves that Fabio incorporated the flavors of the season into a traditional Italian dessert, and the Foos loathe Jeff’s pumpkin “barf-ait”. It’s interesting–while Sexypants (seriously, kind of tiring of writing that) won the dessert rounds with fewer dishes, one of the Foos mentions that normally desserts aren’t something he orders. Perhaps this is another reason why many of the chefs who compete on the show don’t have more desserts up their sleeve–they think many diners feel that way.
The Foos have to choose their favorite team to invite them to go to the concert that night, and though it’s close, Sexypants wins. Unfortunately, that means that the Cougars not only have to clean up and wonder who on their team was going home, but they had to listen to the concert while they worked. It’s a bit of a disproportionate punishment, but I suppose it makes for decent television.
When all the chefs meet up in the stew room, it’s clear that they are all exhausted, hungry, and definitely a little drunk. The Cougars flip them all the bird, and then have to file out to face the Judges Table. As the conversation goes on, it’s clear that Eugene and Ariane are both safe, and that Jeff should be on the chopping block as he assumed the title of “leader”. Daniel and Richard are with him in the bottom three, and Jeff really wishes he didn’t make all three dishes he did. But given his natural leadership ability, he is kept on and Richard and his sad little banana s’mores are sent home. His tearful goodbye is painful to watch, especially when he reveals that he’s tried for three seasons to get on the show…sigh.
Next week…er…tonight: the Top Chefs go on the Today show! And Rocco Dispirito is inexplicably the guest judge again!
