Well Fed Network

Posted by Patsy Kreitman on Edible TV

First, let’s start with a quick recap of last week’s episode with Rocco DiSpirito as guest judge.  The elimination challenge was a new one for this season – a 2 and a half minute cooking demo for television.  The winning demo would get featured on the Today Show.  Many of the chefs kept saying how they are not interested in doing TV, which is interesting since they are using a TV reality show as a way to build their career.  So, they each prepare their dishes with a timer and the judges right there watching and tasting.  There were a few utter failures, but Ariane was the big standout and received the guest spot on the Today Show last week.  She’s really come up to the front of the class since the beginning of the season.  Alex was asked to pack his knives and go for his very complicated dessert choice.

Now, last night began with a new twist on the palate/taste challenge.  Each chef was paired up with another one to taste a sauce and then do a “name that tune” type of competition.  Stefan has an amazing palate, but in the end Hosea won immunity.

The Elimination Challenge was a personal one.  Padma was throwing a bridal shower for Gail Simmons.  The chefs were then divided into teams: Old, New, Borrowed and Blue.  I felt that the Blue team was at a disadvantage because as they all said, there really are no truly blue foods that exist naturally.  They opted to go with an ocean theme.

A few odd notes about the episode, Carla cracks me up.  I almost expect her eyes to pop right out, but I do love her sense of humor.  When she was searching for her teammates at Whole Foods, she kept calling out “hootie” which is the first half of a call she and her husband use when they are out and get separated… the second part is “hoo”.  She has an interesting personality.  Also, what is up with Stefan’s infatuation with the last member of “Team Rainbow?”  He seems a bit too interested in trying to get kisses from her.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program.   Padma certainly throws an amazing party, and poor Tom had to be relegated to the kitchen and overseeing what the chefs were doing while preparing the dishes.  Dana Cowin, the editor in chief at Food & Wine, was there and had guest judge duties this week.  The chefs had their work cut out for them considering the guest list included Gail’s co-workers and other friends who know food.

In the end, the favorites were Team Borrowed who chose to “borrow” from Radhika’s culture, India, to create a lamb dish that was marinated in a yogurt mixture along with a specially seasoned carrot puree.  Overall, this team hit it out of the park.  Team Old was also well received.  They opted to go with Old World dishes and using all heirloom tomatoes.  The sorbet that Jeff made was a favorite – even though Stefan kept trying to tell him it wouldn’t work.  In the end Ariane took the win again this week and walked away with a full set of Simply Calphalon Stainless 10-Piece Cookware Set and their new line of electrics.  Very cool win, indeed!  I have to say I really want to root for her since she’s a NJ native.

As for the bad news, Team New had an over-filled plate with the components of a deconstructed surf and turf sushi.  Eugene failed to explain what they were supposed to do in order to put it all together.  You could see everyone having trouble eating it.  Daniel also felt the need to add in mushrooms to Carla’s salad without consulting her and they were not cooked well either.  Carla really needed to step up and say something this week as she was not happy with the direction her team took this challenge.  Team Blue’s choice of Chilean Sea Bass was not only not politically correct, but was referred to as “old people food” by many of the guests.  It was mushy and had no texture.

This week’s losing team was a tough call, but Team New was put on the chopping block.  When Tom asked Daniel if he still stood behind the dish they prepared and thought it tasted good, he said he did.  Between his mistakes and Eugene’s attempt to make mushy rice acceptable, I wasn’t sure who was being sent home.  Daniel was asked to pack his knives and go, and I think that was the right way to go this week.

Next week, Martha Stewart will be the guest judge and it looks like she’ll be bringing along her new cookbook Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook

Photo courtesy of Bravo TV.