Top Chef (2006) s12e02 Episode Script
Boston's Bravest and Finest
Congratulations.
Mei, congratulations.
- Thank you.
- She's like, "I'm so Good, I beat you with rice porridge.
" And the winner of the first elimination challenge here in Boston is Mei.
Knowing that I work for chef Michael Voltaggio, I think that makes the other chefs a little bit nervous, so winning today just goes to show that I'm a force to be reckoned with.
I have too much Going on in my dish-- I got like 20 components - to the dish.
- What did you describe it as? Taco.
I'm really embarrassed right now.
I can't believe I'm in the bottom on the first elimination challenge.
I wanted to have fun with the dish.
Did you get dinged on powder? Richard Blais didn't like the olive oil, you know, powder.
We got to talk olive oil snow.
It's one of my least favorite modern techniques.
But really, like, we're feeding 250 people.
Every single one of the people were like, "oh, my God, this is, like, the coolest thing in the entire world.
How'd you do that?" Yeah, but to a real molecular chef - Yes.
- Separation with maltodextrin - is the most rookie move ever.
- No .
But I'm not a molecular gastronomist.
That's not what I do.
But that's why you got blasted on it.
I really don't know who the hell Aaron thinks he is.
He's very opinionated and aggressive, but I'm not gonna back down.
Doing molecular gastronomy does not make you a chef.
Yeah, but that's the evolution of food and all standard-- - no.
- No.
Not true.
Not true.
That was a trend-- doesn't mean it's gonna work.
14 chefs remain to compete in the ultimate test of culinary skill.
At stake for the winner, a feature in food & wine magazine An appearance at the food & wine classic in Aspen $125,000 furnished by healthy choice And the title of Top Chef.
Ron, what do you think's going down today, bud? I don't think we're gonna do anything crazy yet.
I mean, it's the second-- did you say we're not gonna do anything crazy yet? Yet we've been here for 48 hours and two people are gone.
Gone.
Joy, 20 minutes.
20 Mexican minutes.
20 Mexican minutes? How many black minutes is that? We're waking up in the house.
You know, we're all still trying to figure each other out.
It's hard to say where I stack up.
I don't have the incredible history and restaurants that some of these guys do but at the same time, I aspire to brilliance, you know, I'm inspired by brilliance.
Patrick Swayze was just kind of a hero of mine.
I just respect his craftsmanship and his commitment to excellence.
You know, it's funny, but he's extremely inspiring to me as a chef.
holy , man.
Todd English is standing there.
I'm starting to realize that I'm gonna be cooking for the best in the country every single day.
Good morning, chefs.
Good morning.
Please welcome chef Todd English.
Hello, chefs.
How are you? - Hello, chef.
- Chef.
- Hi, chef.
- Chefs, Boston is home to the old north church where Paul revere took his famous ride to warn the colonists about how the British were planning to attack.
Does anyone know what phrase became famous from this ride? One if by land, two if by sea.
That's right.
One if by land, two if by sea.
Chefs, for your quickfire challenge, you'll be making the ultimate surf and turf dish.
If one of these lanterns goes on during the cook, you'll have to pick an ingredient from the land table.
If two lanterns go on, you'll have to pick an ingredient from the sea table.
These ingredients are first-come, first-serve, so you will have to pay close attention to when these lanterns are signaling you.
Be careful what you choose, chefs, because the final product has to be a cohesive dish.
One more thing.
There'll be no immunity for this quickfire.
Instead, the winner will receive $5,000.
Pretty good, pretty good.
You have 45 minutes.
Your time Starts now.
The one light goes off, there's pretzels, cheese, cap'n crunch.
It smells like a show's about to go down.
Oh ha ha! I rush for the sweet breads, and I grab 'em.
I wanted those things so bad.
Oh, he took the sweetbreads.
Damn you, Katsuji! I want his stuff.
You got beat in a footrace by Katsuji? I feel bad for you, homie.
He's got the weight on me.
- You got pork chops? - I got pork chops.
Okay, what's the plan? What's the game plan, lady? Hoping I can get some shrimp.
I like it.
I like it.
I have no idea where I'm going with this.
I want that sea table just so I can have a clear focus on my dish.
It's nerve-racking.
I feel so lost.
I want my mommy.
Straight up, man.
He's getting ready.
He's getting ready.
NoCome on.
Come on.
I didn't mean to scare you guys.
Or maybe I did.
I don't know.
Come on, light two.
Come on, light two.
I know.
The land light turns on again I get the ramps.
I'm, like, amped as .
I immediately cut the tops off and make this, like, super green delicious butter.
Now I'm hoping to get fish, because the ramps would really accent the seafood.
Yikes.
What are you making, James? Right now, I'm working a boar bacon broth.
Wild boar bacon-- it's a tougher ingredient.
You can't just, like, cut a piece of it.
You have to manipulate it.
As a chef, we make do with what we have.
We adapt and overcome.
So I want to do, like, a nice broth.
I'm gonna see what seafood throws in my lap Yeah, right? That's what I'm hoping on.
- Before I get too committed.
- You're smart.
I'm just making a chili sauce, and then Katie-- whaa-aa-aa-- - ahh! - Are you burned? Hits me.
! - Jesus, that sounded painful.
- ! Ah! .
All the boiling hot sauce goes on my hand.
- Thanks, Katie.
- You okay? I'm sauteeing sauce and you -- gonna be okay, but - What are you going for? - Squid.
There! Lamp.
Ugh! I'm like, ready for this .
I'm gonna have a heart attack right now.
This challenge you can get the most up ingredient and not know what to do with it, so we're all waiting for that light to come on.
Nobody wants to be stuck with the That's left.
Ugh! Really? .
Oh, ! Right behind.
Right behind.
I didn't notice the two lights go off Aww! Getting weirder and weirder as these things go on.
Yep.
Yep.
I end up with dried crab snack.
I eat it.
I don't die instantaneously.
This could be the crunchy element to my dish.
Dried crab snack! Ha ha ha! When in Rome, right? Get weird.
Come on, baby.
So far the marriage is really simple.
Sea salt, tomatillos, and steak.
The last thing I want to do is try and put another ingredient on this plate.
Oh, .
Pickings are getting pretty slim over there.
Like, coffee beans, velveeta cheese.
- Ahh! Whoo! - Behind, behind, behind.
I grab the veal, but I feel like it's kind of the outside around the playground.
Fight to the finish.
I'm extremely happy that I have to add one more ingredient-- the hot pepper jelly will complement my sauce that I have.
I needed it, like, half an hour ago.
If God gives you lemons just Have a Tequila shot and squeeze a lemon in your mouth.
Me.
Ha ha! You have five minutes left! Five minutes! Thank you, padma.
Behind! - One minute! - One minute! Seriously? Oh, my God.
Three Two Hands up! Utensils down.
- Great - Hi, Adam.
Good afternoon, padma.
So guys, what I have here is a shoyu-marinated flank steak with a pretzel dashi.
- And what's this? - Dried crab snack.
- I can really eat this? - No, absolutely.
I've eaten one and I'm still standing here.
It's good.
That's interesting.
Wow.
Today we have grilled lamb chops with an aromatic soy dressing and we have bluefoot mushroom salad.
I like the citrus a lot.
- Really nice.
- I find it a little salty.
So I made a mixed misto with kind of the wood mushrooms, pollock, and razor clams.
So basically, you did, like, a tempura platter? - Yes.
- I like your vinaigrette.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, this is nice.
- Delicious.
- Okay.
I have got a marinated buffalo strip steak served over veal cutlet and then a warm slaw next to it, and then I did a sea salt garnish.
All right, does this reflect your style of cooking - do you think? - Absolutely, it feels seasonal, - it feels fresh.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Stacy.
Pork chops, sea beans, black radish, - skate cheeks, horned melon.
- Yeah.
Is this the temp you like to cook your pork chop to? This well-done? - That one is well-done? - You see this? - Okay.
- It's a little overcooked.
Okay.
I did a sauteed mussel with a little bit of a boar bacon broth, sauteed fiddlehead ferns, little bit of Sauerkraut.
You know, it's very easy to kill the whole dish with too much bacon, but you didn't.
- Very nice.
- Thank you.
I did a smoked bacon and shiro miso dashi.
I got ground pork first so I incorporated black garlic and gochujang and kind of made little meatballs.
It's not over truffle-y, which is nice.
Yeah.
So I have a pan-seared haddock with a ramp tomato nage, and there's some mung bean fettuccine.
- Very interesting.
- Interesting.
So I got the hot pepper jelly that I put on the bottom with some guajillo peppers, and then on top, sweetbread poached in milk, then on top of that, sunny side up quail egg garnished with a little bit of uni.
I love quail egg and uni together.
They're great classic combinations.
You seemed to show restraint in spite of having to have all these ingredients.
Thank you so much.
I'm not even thinking about $5,000--I just wanna prove to these other chefs that I have good days and I have bad days, but right now, it's the most amazing day.
Chefs, this is not an easy challenge but, you know, I thought there was a lot of really, really interesting dishes.
Bad news first.
Which dishes did you like the least? Well, there was Joy.
I just thought it was a little odd, the beef and the veal together.
One factored out the other.
Stacy, I thought the pork chop, it didn't have enough seasoning, it wasn't cooked properly.
The pork chop is what killed that dish.
What were some of your favorites? I love Katsuji.
He had the beautiful pepper jelly sauce underneath.
You know I'm a big fan of uni.
You pulled it off.
It was a really nice combination.
Thank you so much.
James, the wild boar bacon, you handled that really, really well.
The mussels were cooked perfectly.
All in all, a really wonderful dish.
Who won 5,000 smackeroos? The winner of this quickfire challenge is Chef James.
Whoo! - Hey, man, great job.
- Thank you.
$5,000, that's a healthy amount of money.
I grew up with not the best means.
Single mom, trailer park.
I will not complain about winning this challenge.
Congratulations, James.
Thank you.
It feels good.
I don't want to do anything molecular.
You just want to be an asssometimes.
Trust me, you'll know when I'm an ass.
Chefs, for this elimination challenge, you'll be cooking for some of the heroic men and women of Boston's finest.
Please welcome the commissioners of the Boston police and fire departments.
Welcome, gentlemen.
Hi, chefs.
I'm commissioner bill Evans from the Boston police department.
I'm commissioner John hasson, Boston fire.
Thank you for having us here today.
- Thank you for coming.
- Thank you, guys.
Each day, the men and women of the fire and police departments work together to protect this city.
They're the first to respond to whatever situations may arise, and for your challenge, we'll be asking you to do the same: To work together, because in teams, you must prepare one cohesive dish.
Being from Boston, I am so honored to serve Boston's finest.
They did so much for the city of Boston during the marathon, so I'm just really proud to be doing this for them.
Tomorrow you'll have two hours to prep and cook before service at il casale.
But for this challenge, you won't be shopping.
Each team must respond to a different set of ingredients available in that kitchen.
Oh, my God.
It's time to draw knives.
- Team number one.
- Two.
- Five.
- Two.
Team number five.
I'm not known to play nice with others, so having a team challenge will definitely be a disadvantage for me.
Team number one.
Team number one.
Please organize into teams.
All right.
I see that I get Katie and Katsuji, who were both on the chopping block last week.
I'm thinking like, ", I have to pull the weight for this entire team.
" What's up, hotshot? Obviously we're left with a team of two here.
We'll see if that's an advantage or a disadvantage.
The number you drew not only indicates your team, it's also the order in which you'll serve.
Whatever ingredient is let behind is what we're stuck with, so we're feeling pretty screwed at this point.
And every firehouse has what they think of a chef, but they're really only cooks.
And the last thing I don't want you serving is gourmet doughnuts, please.
We have enough doughnut jokes, to tell ya the truth, so please, something healthy.
Good luck, chefs.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
It should just be, like, a free-for-all brainstorm.
Yeah.
We're walking into this situation as blind as any first responder would, going into a restaurant that we have no idea what kind of equipment we're working with.
On top of that, we're being given, essentially, mystery baskets.
I mean, this is gonna be absolutely insane.
I think they're definitely looking for something elevated, as, like, the commissioner spoke to, but Absolutely.
They're a bunch of dudes, and they want a hearty lunch.
This challenge really means something special, to get to cook for these guys.
Being the new yorker in this group, I have a very unique set of experiences tied to the attacks on 9/11.
My mom worked on floor 78 of tower two in the world trade center.
I was 100% certain that my mom was dead.
I-I never felt so helpless.
2:00 A.
M.
in the morning, my mom finally was able to make a phone call and let me know she was alive.
She was walking out of the "e" train subway platform, and the plane hit the building above her, and the fact that in all of that, there were men and women running into a situation that they knew they weren't gonna come back from Their bravery is truly something that I want to honor.
Since we're going first, I don't want to hit the judges with something so heavy.
I'll take care of the sauce.
Fried chiles, tomatoes, olive oil, maybe a little bit of lemon or lime to give some brightness.
What do you think? I think it'd depend on the basket.
Yeah, it just depends on what's there.
I want to keep it simple.
It doesn't need to be, like, a 30-ingredient dish.
Yeah.
Mei works for one of the best chefs in L.
A.
, but I know I'm a good chef.
I know what's good.
I know what's tasty.
From being at the bottom, I want something that also carries weight with technique a little bit.
Right.
When Michael Voltaggio is out of town, I run his restaurant, so I'm gonna take everybody's opinions into consideration, but I don't want a mishmash of on a plate.
So I'm gonna taste everything that they give to me and just make sure that it's cohesive enough to be in one dish.
We're picking last, cooking last.
This is not gonna be fun.
We're gonna get that last box that no one wanted, and if it's all dessert , I mean, we're kind of .
If it is a dessert basket, we have to think of, you know So let's talk about, I mean, where are you at with desserts? You, I mean, you seem pretty Confident with dessert.
I mean, yeah, I mean, I went to pastry school.
Let's play hypothetical.
Dessert basket.
- Mm-hmm.
- Basic ingredients.
What do you think's gonna be in the basket? I'm not a pastry person.
You went to pastry school.
Like, help me out here.
She straight up said, "I went to pastry school," and then when I try to hand it over to her and say, "hey, look, let's follow your lead," she has nothing to say.
I don't know what's gonna be in the basket, though.
It doesn't matter.
There could be a million ingredients.
But--butMaybe gelatin? We're gonna step away from the whole molecular thing.
Gelatin's a hydrocolloid, so are you not familiar with gelatin? I'm gonna tell you something right now.
If you give firefighters a molecular jelly, they're gonna-- I don't want to do anything molecular! Yeah, no.
I'm the daughter of a firefighter.
I know what firefighters would like to eat, and I'm not gonna let him just take charge and run with something that I don't think will work.
I literally want to know where's your strength, what do you want to do if it's pastry, how the can we help you? You can't plan unless you know what's in there.
Dude, I--I think we should at least entertain the thought of hypothetics at this point.
That's, like, what I'm trying to do.
We're not gonna do molecular.
I don't want to do molecular stuff.
Okay, you talk.
You've been kind of mean in this conversation.
Okay, so have you.
Well, I had to stick up for my rights and I stick up for my direction.
No, you just want to be an asssometimes, but that's okay.
I'm not being an ass right now.
Trust me, you'll know when I'm an ass.
This is gonna work out great.
I'm really excited for this.
I want to make the sauce.
- No, I'll make the sauce.
- I don't want to - Argue about it right now.
- Such a bitch, dude.
We're the first responders into the kitchen.
We get first pick of a mystery box.
I think we have the biggest advantage out of everyone.
Pork chops, fish, pork belly.
I see some rhubarbs, fennel, cherry.
Or do you like yellow beets? - I like beets.
- Morels? - I'm happy with this one.
- I'm happy with this one.
That's fine.
What do you think about a salad with the fennel and the pickled rhubarb? Just to give that brightness.
I want to make the sauce.
No, I'll make the sauce.
I told you this last night, I want to make the sauce.
I feel comfortable making the sauce.
I feel comfortable making the sauce too.
And I don't want to argue about it right now.
All right, so I'm gonna make the sauce then.
Don't worry, I got this.
- Let me have the sauce.
- Still, we have enough time - to probably do two sauces.
- All right, let's do this.
- We got two sauces.
- Just go.
I don't know if I can really trust him.
If he makes something , we're just gonna have to redo it.
I want to taste the sauce, so get that done as soon as possible.
What's the time? 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Pork chops, veal chops, chicken breast, scallops and filet.
We could easily do a surf and turf with chanterelles, guys.
Take it.
All right, let's do this.
I have never been in a situation where I didn't know what ingredients I was gonna get to use.
So I'm really happy to pick a box of ingredients that I am completely familiar with.
Are you gonna be comfortable doing both puree and ragu? - I can cook it, yeah.
- I'm gonna do the filet.
I've got scallops and leek vinaigrette.
Beau-ti-ful.
Dude, pork chops with morels, grilled nectarines-- easy money.
Roast beet, walnuts.
Let's do it.
I'm thinking, boom, cooking for blue collar, awesome firefighters, like, who doesn't like a grilled pork chop? What do you think about a little leek - in that morel and walnut? - Sweet.
Oh, my God.
Chicken, short rib.
Over here we got veal, salmon, kale.
Let's take that.
All right, let's do this.
Grab the apron.
Joy, how comfortable are you with actually - grilling the chops? - I'm comfortable.
Ideally, you want to serve veal just above mid-rare.
If you don't leave it on the grill long enough, you're gonna have real trouble cutting through it.
It's gonna be raw.
These are pretty big chops, so I'm thinking about taking 'em off, actually.
What do you think? - Off the chop? - Yeah, do you-- - nah.
- You want to go with - that whole chop? - Yeah.
You want to do the whole chop? I think for presentation we got to have that bone.
Ugh, they're massive, they're frickin' massive.
Okay.
All right.
I'll go with you all.
We have three chefs coming at it from three different angles and we're trying to put together one cohesive dish, and I'm having to censor my opinion about some of the direction that the dish is taking, but I want to support the team atmosphere.
Are we not gonna use salmon? I can make a nice celery puree.
Hey, how do you feel about a hint of vanilla, either in the puree or in the marinade of the - Yeah.
- Yeah.
We got 46 minutes.
46 minutes? Okay.
Welcome to the party, guys! - Check.
- All right.
- What is it? - Short ribs, corn, broccoli, raw chicken.
I'm definitely not happy with the bin that is left.
Chicken and short ribs? I mean, in two hours we know short ribs aren't gonna get done, and chicken is just not that exciting.
I'll do the corn salad.
- Who wants to cook the chicken? - I will cook the chicken.
- I'll a chorizo and onion jam.
- Okay.
With the agar so I can set it and it'll be like marmalade.
Here we go again with Aaron wanting to use molecular gastronomy, and I know that firefighters aren't gonna be into that, but he is definitely not gonna listen to me so Best of luck! We have 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Okay.
- You're charring the fennel? - Yeah.
- And then shaving it.
- Okay.
I was definitely stressed about what Katsuji is making.
And more fish sauce? No? But I tasted it, and it's really good.
I was worried for no reason.
Hey, don't put any onion in your corn salsa.
No? I'm doing onion jam.
It could be overload.
It needs the onion in it.
- Hit that with acid.
- No, no, no.
- That needs acidity.
- Crank it up.
- It will reduce more.
- I'm not gonna reduce it.
- I'm gonna solidify it.
- Oh, you--oh.
Being in the middle of this show of a team sucks.
I don't want to go down for their mistakes, so I'm just keeping my mouth shut.
It just needs to be thicker, that's all.
- That's-- - don't-- what? You asked my opinion.
- How you doing? - Good, how are you, tom? - Nice to meet ya.
- How are ya? - You guys hungry? - Yeah, starvin'.
I'm looking forward to this.
Okay, here we are.
Hi, Kevin meehan.
- Gail.
Pleasure to meet you.
- So nice to meet you, Gail.
Dante, tell us a little bit about your restaurant and the story behind it.
The fire station was gonna move across the street, and we said, "let's try to get or put a restaurant there, it'd be great.
" The whole town rallied together to try to help us.
We made it happen about five years ago.
Wow, cool.
The two commissioners were ribbing each other.
All firemen just sit around and cook around the time, so-- well, you know, it's so easy to go and pick up a box of doughnuts anywhere you want - Oh! - And eat on the run.
- Oh-- - for us, not so much.
They actually sleep until it's time to eat, and then they eat until it's time to sleep.
Three minutes.
Still three minutes.
- This one needs more shallot.
- Which one? Everybody is pulling weight on our team, and I'm really proud of the dish that we're putting out today.
All right, we're ready.
Ooh.
First course.
Welcome.
Today we made you a pea coconut puree followed with sauteed Halibut.
There's pickled rhubarb and there's also a grilled fennel slaw.
Will you just tell us a little bit about who did what - on the plate? - I started with the sauce.
I cooked the fish, and Katie made the salad with the pickled rhubarb.
Katsuji's sauce is really nice.
The avocado adds a nice little mix.
Thank you so much-- I kept it under 17 ingredients.
Good! I thought the fish was beautifully cooked.
It wasn't over-seared, but it still was golden brown.
The cherries, I didn't think they would work, - but it all kind of made sense.
- Thank you.
You know, a lot of times, if three people come together to create a dish, it feels somewhat disjointed.
This didn't at all.
Everything made sense.
Thank you.
It was amazing to be getting all this feedback.
We're hoping that the first dish might be the first place tonight.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey, guys, how'd it go? They loved the dish and doing good.
Four minutes till we gotta get this up.
Coming in, coming through! Coming behind! Being so close to a horrific attack gives me a greater sense of respect for the bravery of these first responders, and if I get a chance to serve them a perfectly cooked piece of steak, that might be the best way for me to show my gratitude.
Time.
Let's see how the other teams do.
Yeah.
What we did for you guys today, a very nice wood-fired filet mignon, beautifully pan-seared scallops sitting on top of a parsnip puree.
- Who did what? - I did the vegetables.
I was responsible for your seared scallop and your leek vinaigrette.
I seared and seasoned the filet mignon.
I hope you enjoy.
I'm a big surf and turf fan, and even that sauce, I mean, that's not typically what you would get around here - if you ordered surf and turf.
- Right.
But it was nice.
I think the almond and leek vinaigrette really tied everything together.
The beef was perfectly cooked.
Same thing with the scallops.
That was a dish that you can serve in this restaurant tonight and I think people would be very happy with it.
Thank you very much, chef.
Honor to cook for you.
We're all gonna be spoiled now after this.
I know.
This the kind of stuff you're cooking at the firehouse? No, I'm gonna have to hold the guys to a higher standard now.
Check it out.
We have 27 plates down.
As soon as we finish two, we got to pull out two more in a row, okay? Me and James, we both seem like kind of blue collar guys and we see eye-to-eye, so it's definitely an advantage just having two people.
20 seconds.
- You got a salad for me? - What? Right there.
And then we're done.
So what did you make for us? So we got a grilled pork chop with a grilled stone fruit salad, morel mushrooms, and walnut that my friend James sauteed up on there.
You grilled the apricots and the pork chop? The pork chop is seasoned well.
But the apricots, I think, for me, are the best part of the dish.
I really love how tart they are against the sweetness of the other components, and I think they're great.
Yeah, the flavors are there.
The first impulse of the fruit and smoky, brine pork is, you know, it's a good combination.
It's a product of you two being really awesome guys.
I would agree with that.
I think the--you know, we didn't edit each other too much.
I'm sure you said, "I agree with that, we're two awesome guys.
" Yeah, that too, sure.
Yeah, that too.
- Thank you, guys.
- Good job, guys.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
I love stuff off the grill.
Even the apricots got a little grill on 'em, you know? This is a good dish.
There's only three that are really questionable.
- Yeah.
- So put those aside.
I'm gonna pull all these off.
They're rare, and we'll bring 'em up to mid.
- Exactly.
- Yeah.
I'm putting on the veal chops and I notice some of them are a little under, but at this point, we just don't have enough time to change anything.
Need a wipe over here, bad.
I'm going, I'm going.
Hello, team.
- Hello.
- Hi, good afternoon.
Joy, Melissa, myself prepared a maple and vanilla wood-roasted veal chop.
I took care of the wood-fired chop.
- Okay.
- I took care of the kale slaw.
I made the puree and the pickled radishes.
How did you all work as a team? We called ourselves team soulful and we just tried to really cook from the heart, so hopefully you guys taste it.
The vanilla was overpowering.
Is vanilla an ingredient that you guys used often? Here and there.
I mean, I thought that the vanilla really lended itself well to the natural flavor of the celery root.
The problem with veal is you're so conditioned to want sweet when you taste it and it doesn't follow through, so it just seems odd.
What are you going for when you grill veal? - What temperature? - Mid-rare, just below medium.
- Really? - Yeah.
They're all pretty rare.
They were pink pink pink, especially right there.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's undercooked.
Some of them were thicker, some of them were thinner.
Thank you.
Like, I don't know a lot about veal but I know that mine seems to be, like, undercooked.
- How'd it go? - It's a bit rough in there.
They didn't like the vanilla, they didn't like the temperature to which the veal was Cooke.
We got beaten up.
The garnishes on the plate were terrible.
I'll cook you under the table.
Go yourself! I know the last year and a half in Boston has been a difficult transitional time.
In the year that we've had the marathon, the way it all unfolded, I think we've become stronger as a group.
I was down at the finish line that day, and the two people that I helped rescue are alive.
They're well.
They're both amputees.
I mean, I went to Martin's wedding and to see him walk down the aisle And to see him dance with his now wife, Jen, I've never felt anything like that before.
It was one of the most emotional things.
And that wedding probably couldn't have happened if it hadn't been for you.
And it was a collective effort.
Everyone's working together as one, which you don't see too often, and so it was nice, you know? Which you don't see too often, just tell me how I can help you.
I'm just cooking chicken.
I'm really confident about my chicken.
Everyone else around me is doubting me.
Stacy, what can I do to help you? - What's that? - What can I do to help? It's just cooking.
I mean-- I'm scared about time.
We need to start plating, and the chicken hasn't even been cooked yet.
I'm worried about this getting done.
I mean, you don't want any help at all? All it is is chicken! Okay, give me what you can right now.
Flip it over, put it in.
Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh! Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh! Stacy's kind of in the weeds right now.
Yeah, we were gonna help her out with her chicken but, um She doesn't want any help.
Mmm, this chorizo's rocky to be doing panelles.
I'm having problems with my marmalade.
It's more watery than I'm looking for.
- Yeah, I'm gonna warm it up-- - don't warm it up! - We don't have time for that.
- I'm gonna warm it up.
I'm telling you right now, check the time.
Dude, it's gonna be warmed up.
Aaron, check the time, or we're plating - a plate of corn.
- I think at this point I'm just gonna put it back in the pan and add more agar in it and try to reset it.
Second guessing myself with the agar.
Can I tell you right now that she doesn't have enough ready? We need whatever comes out.
You really should clean up these edges.
Listen, this is what we're doing.
- It looks clumpy.
- You know what? It's gonna get on the plate, okay? Call it! Call it! - We're good on chicken? - Yeah, we got to season that.
We don't need seasoning salt.
This sauce is salty enough.
Well, I've already done half.
- Aaron! - Dude! Ugh The irony's thick at this point.
It's a challenge about teamwork and Keriann and I just can't seem to get it together.
Three Two One Time! Hello.
Hi, everyone.
So today we have for you a pan-roasted chicken breast with a bourbon onion jam and then a fresh corn salad with a little bit of serrano for heat.
Who did what? I was in charge of the corn salad.
I did the chicken.
I was responsible for the bourbon chorizo jam.
Stacy's chicken, for me, is the best thing on the plate.
Yep, without a doubt.
The chicken is good, yeah.
Nice job.
What I don't like in the corn salad is the raw onion.
And also, the rawness in the corn leaves a scratchy feeling on your tongue.
This bacon jam I don't even know what this is.
But it's not good.
Stacy, if I were you, I'd be pissed off right now because you cooked a perfect chicken, and the garnishes on the plate were terrible.
Both.
- Understood.
- This I have no idea what you did to that relish.
You realize that when you moved it, the whole thing slid across your plate? Okay.
For lack of better words, it was terrible.
Wow.
How was the challenge of working together as a team? I think we came together pretty good in the kitchen.
- What do you think, Aaron? - Keriann and I see food much differently, and towards the end, it got a little bit panicky.
I feel like Keriann was pretty erratic.
Made some bad moves, made some bad decisions.
This feels like three completely different dishes cooked by people that are not talking to each other at all except through onion.
It was my initial vote to exclude onion from that salad.
And that marmalade was supposed to be chilled on top and add, like, a sweetness to the dish.
Sure.
He went back and forth from having it cold, to hot, to cold, to hot.
It was supposed to go on top of the chicken, and you put your hot-- I don't know what it was-- with my cold corn salad.
That's really what happened.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
You can cut the tension with this butter knife.
Exactly.
I mean, I wish would have talked about the placement of the sauce before it just kind of started going.
I know, right? With the marmalade too.
You put your Hot marmalade on my corn, but, you know what? At the end of the day, the plates got out.
All right.
Perfect.
She's such a bitch, dude.
Like, such a bitch.
I want to thank everyone for dining with us today.
It's been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for serving this fine city and keeping us all safe.
Cheers.
- Such a pleasure.
- Pleasure to meet you.
- It was great to meet you.
- It was nice to meet you.
So So Aaron's a lying sack of .
But besides that It's just incredible.
I don't know what world you live in.
Is there anything that I was dishonest about in there? Aaron.
It's done.
Stop.
I'm not your employee, dude.
- Listen - I don't work for you.
You don't tell me to quiet down.
You don't tell me to silencio.
Exactly, 'cause if you worked for me, - I would fire you in a minut.
- I'll cook you under the table.
You made corn salad in two hours.
You made a marmalade with agar-agar! What the hell? Like, seriously, just stop.
Stop it.
Let's talk about shucking corn and showcasing technique.
Go yourself! I think we have to figure out who our winning team is and who our losing team is.
The red team and the blue team were probably our favorites.
You know, the best thing on the blue team's dish for me - was Gregory's vinaigrette.
- I agree with you.
I thought that tied the whole dish together.
But, you know what? The red team had this focus, this clarity.
It was very simple and beautiful.
I'm on the fence there.
I liked the Halibut a lot.
It showed a little more finesse, but I also enjoyed the surf and turf.
I thought the surf and turf was a little too obvious.
But, you know what? It worked.
The bad news for me is actually really simple.
The green team gave us a dish that was completely disjointed.
Wait a minute.
I mean, I can't forgive that veal.
There's no way I could eat any of that veal.
The vanilla was the first thing I noticed when that plate went down, and it was so overpowering that it was actually sort of a turn-off.
Dante, worst dish.
Veal or chicken? I'm gonna have to say the chicken.
I mean, the chicken was cooked nicely but it just, the onion killed me.
But we're focusing on the protein then, yeah, that veal was just not cooked right.
- Let's go, guys.
- We out.
Well, let's get back to judges' table and tell them the news.
Who thinks they're on bottom? Yes.
They straight up said that Stacy's chicken was cooked perfect and Keriann and I's garnish was , like, plain and simple .
Red team and blue team Please stay where you are.
The other teams, please step to the side.
You served our favorite dishes, so congratulations.
Katie and Katsuji, you guys were on the bottom, so this probably feels pretty good, being on the top right now, but the sauce-- taking peas and avocado? It's a pretty nice little trick.
Your Halibut was cooked perfectly, Mei.
And Katie, you showed us a lot of refined technique today with the pickled rhubarb, with that fennel salad.
I was impressed.
What did you think of the surf and turf dish from our blue team? It was perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, both the scallops and the tenderloin.
I also like the fact that you made a vinaigrette and you made it with leeks, but the leeks weren't brown, so you knew enough not to actually put the vinegar on too early so it'd start to brown out on ya.
It's those details that make a dish.
Trust me, we notice it all.
In the end, though, there can only be one winning team.
And that team Is the blue team.
Congratulations.
Ah, it feels good, doesn't it? I think what really set it apart was just the precision and knowing that every bit of that dish is important.
Yellow team.
Green team.
Please step forward.
Your teams served our least favorite dishes, and one of you will be going home.
Yellow team, your problem was a problem of conception and, quite frankly, just cookery.
Green team, on the other hand, you guys were just from the get-go doomed to fail.
You can't talk past each other and expect to work together.
I think making it in this business, you need to check your ego at the door.
The jam that you made, Aaron, was not jam at all.
The use of agar did not work.
How much time did you have? We got started about an hour and 40 after But you had two hours to cook? Yep.
That's what you did in two hours? Before you grab agar-agar and everything else, two hours you should be able to reduce vinegar, sugar, bacon, peppers without adding anything to it.
Tricks aren't gonna get you through this.
Keriann, did you think the corn was starchy? - Absolutely.
- Well, how do you respond to starchy corn by giving us raw corn? So the corn was bad.
You have all this raw onion in there.
That certainly isn't the kind of cooking that I expect from someone who's on Top Chef.
Regarding the yellow team, Gail? The vanilla completely overwhelmed the dish.
The big issue besides the vanilla came when we cut into that chop and it was Raw.
When it came time for me to get micro and really look at each chop, I failed to do that.
Did you guys taste your dish all put together? I did not.
We tasted it all, like, separately.
We tasted it separately.
You may have had a problem with someone not saying, "no," or "maybe we should rethink that.
" I think we worked really well together as a group, but then there were flaws in the sense of we trusted each other, like, too much.
Chefs, today you were asked to collaborate and cook for some of Boston's finest, but unfortunately for one of you, this was not your finest hour of cooking.
Chefs, today you were asked to collaborate and cook for some of Boston's finest, but unfortunately for one of you, this was not your finest hour of cooking.
Aaron and Keriann You should really, really thank Stacy right now, because her chicken saved you from being the bottom team.
Oh, my God Joy Please pack your knives and go.
Joy, you really have to pay attention.
If you cook 30 veal chops, each one of those had to be perfect.
What you gave us was pretty undercooked veal.
Please say your good-byes to Joy.
For the rest of you, we'll see you at the next challenge.
Congratulations.
Leaving the competition at this early stage, it's incredibly frustrating.
I have a really fat mouth, and for some reason I just, like, tucked it away for this competition, and that was so dumb.
I became so committed to being a team player that that became my top priority.
I think we all came here to prove that we have a flavor and a style that's unique and that's worth sharing.
I didn't get a chance to do that, and I think that's gonna fall in the regret column for me for a long, long time.
Next on Top Chef This is a sudden death quickfire.
Can you believe it's elimination again? Something's burning! Unacceptable.
Hot--watch your back.
For the first time, Fenway park will be hosting a culinary competition.
- Whoo! - Yeah! I'm feeling like it's Christmas Eve.
Look where we are, huh? Seriously.
Stepping foot on to that field, it does not get any better than that.
.
The fish is hammered.
That was one of the worst things I ate.
Shut the up for a moment.
I'm so scared of you right now.
A lot of simple mistakes are being made here.
You're a chef--make the change there on the spot.
The curse of the bambino.
To learn more about the chefs, go to bravotv.
Com
Mei, congratulations.
- Thank you.
- She's like, "I'm so Good, I beat you with rice porridge.
" And the winner of the first elimination challenge here in Boston is Mei.
Knowing that I work for chef Michael Voltaggio, I think that makes the other chefs a little bit nervous, so winning today just goes to show that I'm a force to be reckoned with.
I have too much Going on in my dish-- I got like 20 components - to the dish.
- What did you describe it as? Taco.
I'm really embarrassed right now.
I can't believe I'm in the bottom on the first elimination challenge.
I wanted to have fun with the dish.
Did you get dinged on powder? Richard Blais didn't like the olive oil, you know, powder.
We got to talk olive oil snow.
It's one of my least favorite modern techniques.
But really, like, we're feeding 250 people.
Every single one of the people were like, "oh, my God, this is, like, the coolest thing in the entire world.
How'd you do that?" Yeah, but to a real molecular chef - Yes.
- Separation with maltodextrin - is the most rookie move ever.
- No .
But I'm not a molecular gastronomist.
That's not what I do.
But that's why you got blasted on it.
I really don't know who the hell Aaron thinks he is.
He's very opinionated and aggressive, but I'm not gonna back down.
Doing molecular gastronomy does not make you a chef.
Yeah, but that's the evolution of food and all standard-- - no.
- No.
Not true.
Not true.
That was a trend-- doesn't mean it's gonna work.
14 chefs remain to compete in the ultimate test of culinary skill.
At stake for the winner, a feature in food & wine magazine An appearance at the food & wine classic in Aspen $125,000 furnished by healthy choice And the title of Top Chef.
Ron, what do you think's going down today, bud? I don't think we're gonna do anything crazy yet.
I mean, it's the second-- did you say we're not gonna do anything crazy yet? Yet we've been here for 48 hours and two people are gone.
Gone.
Joy, 20 minutes.
20 Mexican minutes.
20 Mexican minutes? How many black minutes is that? We're waking up in the house.
You know, we're all still trying to figure each other out.
It's hard to say where I stack up.
I don't have the incredible history and restaurants that some of these guys do but at the same time, I aspire to brilliance, you know, I'm inspired by brilliance.
Patrick Swayze was just kind of a hero of mine.
I just respect his craftsmanship and his commitment to excellence.
You know, it's funny, but he's extremely inspiring to me as a chef.
holy , man.
Todd English is standing there.
I'm starting to realize that I'm gonna be cooking for the best in the country every single day.
Good morning, chefs.
Good morning.
Please welcome chef Todd English.
Hello, chefs.
How are you? - Hello, chef.
- Chef.
- Hi, chef.
- Chefs, Boston is home to the old north church where Paul revere took his famous ride to warn the colonists about how the British were planning to attack.
Does anyone know what phrase became famous from this ride? One if by land, two if by sea.
That's right.
One if by land, two if by sea.
Chefs, for your quickfire challenge, you'll be making the ultimate surf and turf dish.
If one of these lanterns goes on during the cook, you'll have to pick an ingredient from the land table.
If two lanterns go on, you'll have to pick an ingredient from the sea table.
These ingredients are first-come, first-serve, so you will have to pay close attention to when these lanterns are signaling you.
Be careful what you choose, chefs, because the final product has to be a cohesive dish.
One more thing.
There'll be no immunity for this quickfire.
Instead, the winner will receive $5,000.
Pretty good, pretty good.
You have 45 minutes.
Your time Starts now.
The one light goes off, there's pretzels, cheese, cap'n crunch.
It smells like a show's about to go down.
Oh ha ha! I rush for the sweet breads, and I grab 'em.
I wanted those things so bad.
Oh, he took the sweetbreads.
Damn you, Katsuji! I want his stuff.
You got beat in a footrace by Katsuji? I feel bad for you, homie.
He's got the weight on me.
- You got pork chops? - I got pork chops.
Okay, what's the plan? What's the game plan, lady? Hoping I can get some shrimp.
I like it.
I like it.
I have no idea where I'm going with this.
I want that sea table just so I can have a clear focus on my dish.
It's nerve-racking.
I feel so lost.
I want my mommy.
Straight up, man.
He's getting ready.
He's getting ready.
NoCome on.
Come on.
I didn't mean to scare you guys.
Or maybe I did.
I don't know.
Come on, light two.
Come on, light two.
I know.
The land light turns on again I get the ramps.
I'm, like, amped as .
I immediately cut the tops off and make this, like, super green delicious butter.
Now I'm hoping to get fish, because the ramps would really accent the seafood.
Yikes.
What are you making, James? Right now, I'm working a boar bacon broth.
Wild boar bacon-- it's a tougher ingredient.
You can't just, like, cut a piece of it.
You have to manipulate it.
As a chef, we make do with what we have.
We adapt and overcome.
So I want to do, like, a nice broth.
I'm gonna see what seafood throws in my lap Yeah, right? That's what I'm hoping on.
- Before I get too committed.
- You're smart.
I'm just making a chili sauce, and then Katie-- whaa-aa-aa-- - ahh! - Are you burned? Hits me.
! - Jesus, that sounded painful.
- ! Ah! .
All the boiling hot sauce goes on my hand.
- Thanks, Katie.
- You okay? I'm sauteeing sauce and you -- gonna be okay, but - What are you going for? - Squid.
There! Lamp.
Ugh! I'm like, ready for this .
I'm gonna have a heart attack right now.
This challenge you can get the most up ingredient and not know what to do with it, so we're all waiting for that light to come on.
Nobody wants to be stuck with the That's left.
Ugh! Really? .
Oh, ! Right behind.
Right behind.
I didn't notice the two lights go off Aww! Getting weirder and weirder as these things go on.
Yep.
Yep.
I end up with dried crab snack.
I eat it.
I don't die instantaneously.
This could be the crunchy element to my dish.
Dried crab snack! Ha ha ha! When in Rome, right? Get weird.
Come on, baby.
So far the marriage is really simple.
Sea salt, tomatillos, and steak.
The last thing I want to do is try and put another ingredient on this plate.
Oh, .
Pickings are getting pretty slim over there.
Like, coffee beans, velveeta cheese.
- Ahh! Whoo! - Behind, behind, behind.
I grab the veal, but I feel like it's kind of the outside around the playground.
Fight to the finish.
I'm extremely happy that I have to add one more ingredient-- the hot pepper jelly will complement my sauce that I have.
I needed it, like, half an hour ago.
If God gives you lemons just Have a Tequila shot and squeeze a lemon in your mouth.
Me.
Ha ha! You have five minutes left! Five minutes! Thank you, padma.
Behind! - One minute! - One minute! Seriously? Oh, my God.
Three Two Hands up! Utensils down.
- Great - Hi, Adam.
Good afternoon, padma.
So guys, what I have here is a shoyu-marinated flank steak with a pretzel dashi.
- And what's this? - Dried crab snack.
- I can really eat this? - No, absolutely.
I've eaten one and I'm still standing here.
It's good.
That's interesting.
Wow.
Today we have grilled lamb chops with an aromatic soy dressing and we have bluefoot mushroom salad.
I like the citrus a lot.
- Really nice.
- I find it a little salty.
So I made a mixed misto with kind of the wood mushrooms, pollock, and razor clams.
So basically, you did, like, a tempura platter? - Yes.
- I like your vinaigrette.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, this is nice.
- Delicious.
- Okay.
I have got a marinated buffalo strip steak served over veal cutlet and then a warm slaw next to it, and then I did a sea salt garnish.
All right, does this reflect your style of cooking - do you think? - Absolutely, it feels seasonal, - it feels fresh.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Stacy.
Pork chops, sea beans, black radish, - skate cheeks, horned melon.
- Yeah.
Is this the temp you like to cook your pork chop to? This well-done? - That one is well-done? - You see this? - Okay.
- It's a little overcooked.
Okay.
I did a sauteed mussel with a little bit of a boar bacon broth, sauteed fiddlehead ferns, little bit of Sauerkraut.
You know, it's very easy to kill the whole dish with too much bacon, but you didn't.
- Very nice.
- Thank you.
I did a smoked bacon and shiro miso dashi.
I got ground pork first so I incorporated black garlic and gochujang and kind of made little meatballs.
It's not over truffle-y, which is nice.
Yeah.
So I have a pan-seared haddock with a ramp tomato nage, and there's some mung bean fettuccine.
- Very interesting.
- Interesting.
So I got the hot pepper jelly that I put on the bottom with some guajillo peppers, and then on top, sweetbread poached in milk, then on top of that, sunny side up quail egg garnished with a little bit of uni.
I love quail egg and uni together.
They're great classic combinations.
You seemed to show restraint in spite of having to have all these ingredients.
Thank you so much.
I'm not even thinking about $5,000--I just wanna prove to these other chefs that I have good days and I have bad days, but right now, it's the most amazing day.
Chefs, this is not an easy challenge but, you know, I thought there was a lot of really, really interesting dishes.
Bad news first.
Which dishes did you like the least? Well, there was Joy.
I just thought it was a little odd, the beef and the veal together.
One factored out the other.
Stacy, I thought the pork chop, it didn't have enough seasoning, it wasn't cooked properly.
The pork chop is what killed that dish.
What were some of your favorites? I love Katsuji.
He had the beautiful pepper jelly sauce underneath.
You know I'm a big fan of uni.
You pulled it off.
It was a really nice combination.
Thank you so much.
James, the wild boar bacon, you handled that really, really well.
The mussels were cooked perfectly.
All in all, a really wonderful dish.
Who won 5,000 smackeroos? The winner of this quickfire challenge is Chef James.
Whoo! - Hey, man, great job.
- Thank you.
$5,000, that's a healthy amount of money.
I grew up with not the best means.
Single mom, trailer park.
I will not complain about winning this challenge.
Congratulations, James.
Thank you.
It feels good.
I don't want to do anything molecular.
You just want to be an asssometimes.
Trust me, you'll know when I'm an ass.
Chefs, for this elimination challenge, you'll be cooking for some of the heroic men and women of Boston's finest.
Please welcome the commissioners of the Boston police and fire departments.
Welcome, gentlemen.
Hi, chefs.
I'm commissioner bill Evans from the Boston police department.
I'm commissioner John hasson, Boston fire.
Thank you for having us here today.
- Thank you for coming.
- Thank you, guys.
Each day, the men and women of the fire and police departments work together to protect this city.
They're the first to respond to whatever situations may arise, and for your challenge, we'll be asking you to do the same: To work together, because in teams, you must prepare one cohesive dish.
Being from Boston, I am so honored to serve Boston's finest.
They did so much for the city of Boston during the marathon, so I'm just really proud to be doing this for them.
Tomorrow you'll have two hours to prep and cook before service at il casale.
But for this challenge, you won't be shopping.
Each team must respond to a different set of ingredients available in that kitchen.
Oh, my God.
It's time to draw knives.
- Team number one.
- Two.
- Five.
- Two.
Team number five.
I'm not known to play nice with others, so having a team challenge will definitely be a disadvantage for me.
Team number one.
Team number one.
Please organize into teams.
All right.
I see that I get Katie and Katsuji, who were both on the chopping block last week.
I'm thinking like, ", I have to pull the weight for this entire team.
" What's up, hotshot? Obviously we're left with a team of two here.
We'll see if that's an advantage or a disadvantage.
The number you drew not only indicates your team, it's also the order in which you'll serve.
Whatever ingredient is let behind is what we're stuck with, so we're feeling pretty screwed at this point.
And every firehouse has what they think of a chef, but they're really only cooks.
And the last thing I don't want you serving is gourmet doughnuts, please.
We have enough doughnut jokes, to tell ya the truth, so please, something healthy.
Good luck, chefs.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
It should just be, like, a free-for-all brainstorm.
Yeah.
We're walking into this situation as blind as any first responder would, going into a restaurant that we have no idea what kind of equipment we're working with.
On top of that, we're being given, essentially, mystery baskets.
I mean, this is gonna be absolutely insane.
I think they're definitely looking for something elevated, as, like, the commissioner spoke to, but Absolutely.
They're a bunch of dudes, and they want a hearty lunch.
This challenge really means something special, to get to cook for these guys.
Being the new yorker in this group, I have a very unique set of experiences tied to the attacks on 9/11.
My mom worked on floor 78 of tower two in the world trade center.
I was 100% certain that my mom was dead.
I-I never felt so helpless.
2:00 A.
M.
in the morning, my mom finally was able to make a phone call and let me know she was alive.
She was walking out of the "e" train subway platform, and the plane hit the building above her, and the fact that in all of that, there were men and women running into a situation that they knew they weren't gonna come back from Their bravery is truly something that I want to honor.
Since we're going first, I don't want to hit the judges with something so heavy.
I'll take care of the sauce.
Fried chiles, tomatoes, olive oil, maybe a little bit of lemon or lime to give some brightness.
What do you think? I think it'd depend on the basket.
Yeah, it just depends on what's there.
I want to keep it simple.
It doesn't need to be, like, a 30-ingredient dish.
Yeah.
Mei works for one of the best chefs in L.
A.
, but I know I'm a good chef.
I know what's good.
I know what's tasty.
From being at the bottom, I want something that also carries weight with technique a little bit.
Right.
When Michael Voltaggio is out of town, I run his restaurant, so I'm gonna take everybody's opinions into consideration, but I don't want a mishmash of on a plate.
So I'm gonna taste everything that they give to me and just make sure that it's cohesive enough to be in one dish.
We're picking last, cooking last.
This is not gonna be fun.
We're gonna get that last box that no one wanted, and if it's all dessert , I mean, we're kind of .
If it is a dessert basket, we have to think of, you know So let's talk about, I mean, where are you at with desserts? You, I mean, you seem pretty Confident with dessert.
I mean, yeah, I mean, I went to pastry school.
Let's play hypothetical.
Dessert basket.
- Mm-hmm.
- Basic ingredients.
What do you think's gonna be in the basket? I'm not a pastry person.
You went to pastry school.
Like, help me out here.
She straight up said, "I went to pastry school," and then when I try to hand it over to her and say, "hey, look, let's follow your lead," she has nothing to say.
I don't know what's gonna be in the basket, though.
It doesn't matter.
There could be a million ingredients.
But--butMaybe gelatin? We're gonna step away from the whole molecular thing.
Gelatin's a hydrocolloid, so are you not familiar with gelatin? I'm gonna tell you something right now.
If you give firefighters a molecular jelly, they're gonna-- I don't want to do anything molecular! Yeah, no.
I'm the daughter of a firefighter.
I know what firefighters would like to eat, and I'm not gonna let him just take charge and run with something that I don't think will work.
I literally want to know where's your strength, what do you want to do if it's pastry, how the can we help you? You can't plan unless you know what's in there.
Dude, I--I think we should at least entertain the thought of hypothetics at this point.
That's, like, what I'm trying to do.
We're not gonna do molecular.
I don't want to do molecular stuff.
Okay, you talk.
You've been kind of mean in this conversation.
Okay, so have you.
Well, I had to stick up for my rights and I stick up for my direction.
No, you just want to be an asssometimes, but that's okay.
I'm not being an ass right now.
Trust me, you'll know when I'm an ass.
This is gonna work out great.
I'm really excited for this.
I want to make the sauce.
- No, I'll make the sauce.
- I don't want to - Argue about it right now.
- Such a bitch, dude.
We're the first responders into the kitchen.
We get first pick of a mystery box.
I think we have the biggest advantage out of everyone.
Pork chops, fish, pork belly.
I see some rhubarbs, fennel, cherry.
Or do you like yellow beets? - I like beets.
- Morels? - I'm happy with this one.
- I'm happy with this one.
That's fine.
What do you think about a salad with the fennel and the pickled rhubarb? Just to give that brightness.
I want to make the sauce.
No, I'll make the sauce.
I told you this last night, I want to make the sauce.
I feel comfortable making the sauce.
I feel comfortable making the sauce too.
And I don't want to argue about it right now.
All right, so I'm gonna make the sauce then.
Don't worry, I got this.
- Let me have the sauce.
- Still, we have enough time - to probably do two sauces.
- All right, let's do this.
- We got two sauces.
- Just go.
I don't know if I can really trust him.
If he makes something , we're just gonna have to redo it.
I want to taste the sauce, so get that done as soon as possible.
What's the time? 1 hour and 34 minutes.
Pork chops, veal chops, chicken breast, scallops and filet.
We could easily do a surf and turf with chanterelles, guys.
Take it.
All right, let's do this.
I have never been in a situation where I didn't know what ingredients I was gonna get to use.
So I'm really happy to pick a box of ingredients that I am completely familiar with.
Are you gonna be comfortable doing both puree and ragu? - I can cook it, yeah.
- I'm gonna do the filet.
I've got scallops and leek vinaigrette.
Beau-ti-ful.
Dude, pork chops with morels, grilled nectarines-- easy money.
Roast beet, walnuts.
Let's do it.
I'm thinking, boom, cooking for blue collar, awesome firefighters, like, who doesn't like a grilled pork chop? What do you think about a little leek - in that morel and walnut? - Sweet.
Oh, my God.
Chicken, short rib.
Over here we got veal, salmon, kale.
Let's take that.
All right, let's do this.
Grab the apron.
Joy, how comfortable are you with actually - grilling the chops? - I'm comfortable.
Ideally, you want to serve veal just above mid-rare.
If you don't leave it on the grill long enough, you're gonna have real trouble cutting through it.
It's gonna be raw.
These are pretty big chops, so I'm thinking about taking 'em off, actually.
What do you think? - Off the chop? - Yeah, do you-- - nah.
- You want to go with - that whole chop? - Yeah.
You want to do the whole chop? I think for presentation we got to have that bone.
Ugh, they're massive, they're frickin' massive.
Okay.
All right.
I'll go with you all.
We have three chefs coming at it from three different angles and we're trying to put together one cohesive dish, and I'm having to censor my opinion about some of the direction that the dish is taking, but I want to support the team atmosphere.
Are we not gonna use salmon? I can make a nice celery puree.
Hey, how do you feel about a hint of vanilla, either in the puree or in the marinade of the - Yeah.
- Yeah.
We got 46 minutes.
46 minutes? Okay.
Welcome to the party, guys! - Check.
- All right.
- What is it? - Short ribs, corn, broccoli, raw chicken.
I'm definitely not happy with the bin that is left.
Chicken and short ribs? I mean, in two hours we know short ribs aren't gonna get done, and chicken is just not that exciting.
I'll do the corn salad.
- Who wants to cook the chicken? - I will cook the chicken.
- I'll a chorizo and onion jam.
- Okay.
With the agar so I can set it and it'll be like marmalade.
Here we go again with Aaron wanting to use molecular gastronomy, and I know that firefighters aren't gonna be into that, but he is definitely not gonna listen to me so Best of luck! We have 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Okay.
- You're charring the fennel? - Yeah.
- And then shaving it.
- Okay.
I was definitely stressed about what Katsuji is making.
And more fish sauce? No? But I tasted it, and it's really good.
I was worried for no reason.
Hey, don't put any onion in your corn salsa.
No? I'm doing onion jam.
It could be overload.
It needs the onion in it.
- Hit that with acid.
- No, no, no.
- That needs acidity.
- Crank it up.
- It will reduce more.
- I'm not gonna reduce it.
- I'm gonna solidify it.
- Oh, you--oh.
Being in the middle of this show of a team sucks.
I don't want to go down for their mistakes, so I'm just keeping my mouth shut.
It just needs to be thicker, that's all.
- That's-- - don't-- what? You asked my opinion.
- How you doing? - Good, how are you, tom? - Nice to meet ya.
- How are ya? - You guys hungry? - Yeah, starvin'.
I'm looking forward to this.
Okay, here we are.
Hi, Kevin meehan.
- Gail.
Pleasure to meet you.
- So nice to meet you, Gail.
Dante, tell us a little bit about your restaurant and the story behind it.
The fire station was gonna move across the street, and we said, "let's try to get or put a restaurant there, it'd be great.
" The whole town rallied together to try to help us.
We made it happen about five years ago.
Wow, cool.
The two commissioners were ribbing each other.
All firemen just sit around and cook around the time, so-- well, you know, it's so easy to go and pick up a box of doughnuts anywhere you want - Oh! - And eat on the run.
- Oh-- - for us, not so much.
They actually sleep until it's time to eat, and then they eat until it's time to sleep.
Three minutes.
Still three minutes.
- This one needs more shallot.
- Which one? Everybody is pulling weight on our team, and I'm really proud of the dish that we're putting out today.
All right, we're ready.
Ooh.
First course.
Welcome.
Today we made you a pea coconut puree followed with sauteed Halibut.
There's pickled rhubarb and there's also a grilled fennel slaw.
Will you just tell us a little bit about who did what - on the plate? - I started with the sauce.
I cooked the fish, and Katie made the salad with the pickled rhubarb.
Katsuji's sauce is really nice.
The avocado adds a nice little mix.
Thank you so much-- I kept it under 17 ingredients.
Good! I thought the fish was beautifully cooked.
It wasn't over-seared, but it still was golden brown.
The cherries, I didn't think they would work, - but it all kind of made sense.
- Thank you.
You know, a lot of times, if three people come together to create a dish, it feels somewhat disjointed.
This didn't at all.
Everything made sense.
Thank you.
It was amazing to be getting all this feedback.
We're hoping that the first dish might be the first place tonight.
- Hey, guys.
- Hey, guys, how'd it go? They loved the dish and doing good.
Four minutes till we gotta get this up.
Coming in, coming through! Coming behind! Being so close to a horrific attack gives me a greater sense of respect for the bravery of these first responders, and if I get a chance to serve them a perfectly cooked piece of steak, that might be the best way for me to show my gratitude.
Time.
Let's see how the other teams do.
Yeah.
What we did for you guys today, a very nice wood-fired filet mignon, beautifully pan-seared scallops sitting on top of a parsnip puree.
- Who did what? - I did the vegetables.
I was responsible for your seared scallop and your leek vinaigrette.
I seared and seasoned the filet mignon.
I hope you enjoy.
I'm a big surf and turf fan, and even that sauce, I mean, that's not typically what you would get around here - if you ordered surf and turf.
- Right.
But it was nice.
I think the almond and leek vinaigrette really tied everything together.
The beef was perfectly cooked.
Same thing with the scallops.
That was a dish that you can serve in this restaurant tonight and I think people would be very happy with it.
Thank you very much, chef.
Honor to cook for you.
We're all gonna be spoiled now after this.
I know.
This the kind of stuff you're cooking at the firehouse? No, I'm gonna have to hold the guys to a higher standard now.
Check it out.
We have 27 plates down.
As soon as we finish two, we got to pull out two more in a row, okay? Me and James, we both seem like kind of blue collar guys and we see eye-to-eye, so it's definitely an advantage just having two people.
20 seconds.
- You got a salad for me? - What? Right there.
And then we're done.
So what did you make for us? So we got a grilled pork chop with a grilled stone fruit salad, morel mushrooms, and walnut that my friend James sauteed up on there.
You grilled the apricots and the pork chop? The pork chop is seasoned well.
But the apricots, I think, for me, are the best part of the dish.
I really love how tart they are against the sweetness of the other components, and I think they're great.
Yeah, the flavors are there.
The first impulse of the fruit and smoky, brine pork is, you know, it's a good combination.
It's a product of you two being really awesome guys.
I would agree with that.
I think the--you know, we didn't edit each other too much.
I'm sure you said, "I agree with that, we're two awesome guys.
" Yeah, that too, sure.
Yeah, that too.
- Thank you, guys.
- Good job, guys.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
I love stuff off the grill.
Even the apricots got a little grill on 'em, you know? This is a good dish.
There's only three that are really questionable.
- Yeah.
- So put those aside.
I'm gonna pull all these off.
They're rare, and we'll bring 'em up to mid.
- Exactly.
- Yeah.
I'm putting on the veal chops and I notice some of them are a little under, but at this point, we just don't have enough time to change anything.
Need a wipe over here, bad.
I'm going, I'm going.
Hello, team.
- Hello.
- Hi, good afternoon.
Joy, Melissa, myself prepared a maple and vanilla wood-roasted veal chop.
I took care of the wood-fired chop.
- Okay.
- I took care of the kale slaw.
I made the puree and the pickled radishes.
How did you all work as a team? We called ourselves team soulful and we just tried to really cook from the heart, so hopefully you guys taste it.
The vanilla was overpowering.
Is vanilla an ingredient that you guys used often? Here and there.
I mean, I thought that the vanilla really lended itself well to the natural flavor of the celery root.
The problem with veal is you're so conditioned to want sweet when you taste it and it doesn't follow through, so it just seems odd.
What are you going for when you grill veal? - What temperature? - Mid-rare, just below medium.
- Really? - Yeah.
They're all pretty rare.
They were pink pink pink, especially right there.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's undercooked.
Some of them were thicker, some of them were thinner.
Thank you.
Like, I don't know a lot about veal but I know that mine seems to be, like, undercooked.
- How'd it go? - It's a bit rough in there.
They didn't like the vanilla, they didn't like the temperature to which the veal was Cooke.
We got beaten up.
The garnishes on the plate were terrible.
I'll cook you under the table.
Go yourself! I know the last year and a half in Boston has been a difficult transitional time.
In the year that we've had the marathon, the way it all unfolded, I think we've become stronger as a group.
I was down at the finish line that day, and the two people that I helped rescue are alive.
They're well.
They're both amputees.
I mean, I went to Martin's wedding and to see him walk down the aisle And to see him dance with his now wife, Jen, I've never felt anything like that before.
It was one of the most emotional things.
And that wedding probably couldn't have happened if it hadn't been for you.
And it was a collective effort.
Everyone's working together as one, which you don't see too often, and so it was nice, you know? Which you don't see too often, just tell me how I can help you.
I'm just cooking chicken.
I'm really confident about my chicken.
Everyone else around me is doubting me.
Stacy, what can I do to help you? - What's that? - What can I do to help? It's just cooking.
I mean-- I'm scared about time.
We need to start plating, and the chicken hasn't even been cooked yet.
I'm worried about this getting done.
I mean, you don't want any help at all? All it is is chicken! Okay, give me what you can right now.
Flip it over, put it in.
Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh! Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh! Stacy's kind of in the weeds right now.
Yeah, we were gonna help her out with her chicken but, um She doesn't want any help.
Mmm, this chorizo's rocky to be doing panelles.
I'm having problems with my marmalade.
It's more watery than I'm looking for.
- Yeah, I'm gonna warm it up-- - don't warm it up! - We don't have time for that.
- I'm gonna warm it up.
I'm telling you right now, check the time.
Dude, it's gonna be warmed up.
Aaron, check the time, or we're plating - a plate of corn.
- I think at this point I'm just gonna put it back in the pan and add more agar in it and try to reset it.
Second guessing myself with the agar.
Can I tell you right now that she doesn't have enough ready? We need whatever comes out.
You really should clean up these edges.
Listen, this is what we're doing.
- It looks clumpy.
- You know what? It's gonna get on the plate, okay? Call it! Call it! - We're good on chicken? - Yeah, we got to season that.
We don't need seasoning salt.
This sauce is salty enough.
Well, I've already done half.
- Aaron! - Dude! Ugh The irony's thick at this point.
It's a challenge about teamwork and Keriann and I just can't seem to get it together.
Three Two One Time! Hello.
Hi, everyone.
So today we have for you a pan-roasted chicken breast with a bourbon onion jam and then a fresh corn salad with a little bit of serrano for heat.
Who did what? I was in charge of the corn salad.
I did the chicken.
I was responsible for the bourbon chorizo jam.
Stacy's chicken, for me, is the best thing on the plate.
Yep, without a doubt.
The chicken is good, yeah.
Nice job.
What I don't like in the corn salad is the raw onion.
And also, the rawness in the corn leaves a scratchy feeling on your tongue.
This bacon jam I don't even know what this is.
But it's not good.
Stacy, if I were you, I'd be pissed off right now because you cooked a perfect chicken, and the garnishes on the plate were terrible.
Both.
- Understood.
- This I have no idea what you did to that relish.
You realize that when you moved it, the whole thing slid across your plate? Okay.
For lack of better words, it was terrible.
Wow.
How was the challenge of working together as a team? I think we came together pretty good in the kitchen.
- What do you think, Aaron? - Keriann and I see food much differently, and towards the end, it got a little bit panicky.
I feel like Keriann was pretty erratic.
Made some bad moves, made some bad decisions.
This feels like three completely different dishes cooked by people that are not talking to each other at all except through onion.
It was my initial vote to exclude onion from that salad.
And that marmalade was supposed to be chilled on top and add, like, a sweetness to the dish.
Sure.
He went back and forth from having it cold, to hot, to cold, to hot.
It was supposed to go on top of the chicken, and you put your hot-- I don't know what it was-- with my cold corn salad.
That's really what happened.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
You can cut the tension with this butter knife.
Exactly.
I mean, I wish would have talked about the placement of the sauce before it just kind of started going.
I know, right? With the marmalade too.
You put your Hot marmalade on my corn, but, you know what? At the end of the day, the plates got out.
All right.
Perfect.
She's such a bitch, dude.
Like, such a bitch.
I want to thank everyone for dining with us today.
It's been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for serving this fine city and keeping us all safe.
Cheers.
- Such a pleasure.
- Pleasure to meet you.
- It was great to meet you.
- It was nice to meet you.
So So Aaron's a lying sack of .
But besides that It's just incredible.
I don't know what world you live in.
Is there anything that I was dishonest about in there? Aaron.
It's done.
Stop.
I'm not your employee, dude.
- Listen - I don't work for you.
You don't tell me to quiet down.
You don't tell me to silencio.
Exactly, 'cause if you worked for me, - I would fire you in a minut.
- I'll cook you under the table.
You made corn salad in two hours.
You made a marmalade with agar-agar! What the hell? Like, seriously, just stop.
Stop it.
Let's talk about shucking corn and showcasing technique.
Go yourself! I think we have to figure out who our winning team is and who our losing team is.
The red team and the blue team were probably our favorites.
You know, the best thing on the blue team's dish for me - was Gregory's vinaigrette.
- I agree with you.
I thought that tied the whole dish together.
But, you know what? The red team had this focus, this clarity.
It was very simple and beautiful.
I'm on the fence there.
I liked the Halibut a lot.
It showed a little more finesse, but I also enjoyed the surf and turf.
I thought the surf and turf was a little too obvious.
But, you know what? It worked.
The bad news for me is actually really simple.
The green team gave us a dish that was completely disjointed.
Wait a minute.
I mean, I can't forgive that veal.
There's no way I could eat any of that veal.
The vanilla was the first thing I noticed when that plate went down, and it was so overpowering that it was actually sort of a turn-off.
Dante, worst dish.
Veal or chicken? I'm gonna have to say the chicken.
I mean, the chicken was cooked nicely but it just, the onion killed me.
But we're focusing on the protein then, yeah, that veal was just not cooked right.
- Let's go, guys.
- We out.
Well, let's get back to judges' table and tell them the news.
Who thinks they're on bottom? Yes.
They straight up said that Stacy's chicken was cooked perfect and Keriann and I's garnish was , like, plain and simple .
Red team and blue team Please stay where you are.
The other teams, please step to the side.
You served our favorite dishes, so congratulations.
Katie and Katsuji, you guys were on the bottom, so this probably feels pretty good, being on the top right now, but the sauce-- taking peas and avocado? It's a pretty nice little trick.
Your Halibut was cooked perfectly, Mei.
And Katie, you showed us a lot of refined technique today with the pickled rhubarb, with that fennel salad.
I was impressed.
What did you think of the surf and turf dish from our blue team? It was perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, both the scallops and the tenderloin.
I also like the fact that you made a vinaigrette and you made it with leeks, but the leeks weren't brown, so you knew enough not to actually put the vinegar on too early so it'd start to brown out on ya.
It's those details that make a dish.
Trust me, we notice it all.
In the end, though, there can only be one winning team.
And that team Is the blue team.
Congratulations.
Ah, it feels good, doesn't it? I think what really set it apart was just the precision and knowing that every bit of that dish is important.
Yellow team.
Green team.
Please step forward.
Your teams served our least favorite dishes, and one of you will be going home.
Yellow team, your problem was a problem of conception and, quite frankly, just cookery.
Green team, on the other hand, you guys were just from the get-go doomed to fail.
You can't talk past each other and expect to work together.
I think making it in this business, you need to check your ego at the door.
The jam that you made, Aaron, was not jam at all.
The use of agar did not work.
How much time did you have? We got started about an hour and 40 after But you had two hours to cook? Yep.
That's what you did in two hours? Before you grab agar-agar and everything else, two hours you should be able to reduce vinegar, sugar, bacon, peppers without adding anything to it.
Tricks aren't gonna get you through this.
Keriann, did you think the corn was starchy? - Absolutely.
- Well, how do you respond to starchy corn by giving us raw corn? So the corn was bad.
You have all this raw onion in there.
That certainly isn't the kind of cooking that I expect from someone who's on Top Chef.
Regarding the yellow team, Gail? The vanilla completely overwhelmed the dish.
The big issue besides the vanilla came when we cut into that chop and it was Raw.
When it came time for me to get micro and really look at each chop, I failed to do that.
Did you guys taste your dish all put together? I did not.
We tasted it all, like, separately.
We tasted it separately.
You may have had a problem with someone not saying, "no," or "maybe we should rethink that.
" I think we worked really well together as a group, but then there were flaws in the sense of we trusted each other, like, too much.
Chefs, today you were asked to collaborate and cook for some of Boston's finest, but unfortunately for one of you, this was not your finest hour of cooking.
Chefs, today you were asked to collaborate and cook for some of Boston's finest, but unfortunately for one of you, this was not your finest hour of cooking.
Aaron and Keriann You should really, really thank Stacy right now, because her chicken saved you from being the bottom team.
Oh, my God Joy Please pack your knives and go.
Joy, you really have to pay attention.
If you cook 30 veal chops, each one of those had to be perfect.
What you gave us was pretty undercooked veal.
Please say your good-byes to Joy.
For the rest of you, we'll see you at the next challenge.
Congratulations.
Leaving the competition at this early stage, it's incredibly frustrating.
I have a really fat mouth, and for some reason I just, like, tucked it away for this competition, and that was so dumb.
I became so committed to being a team player that that became my top priority.
I think we all came here to prove that we have a flavor and a style that's unique and that's worth sharing.
I didn't get a chance to do that, and I think that's gonna fall in the regret column for me for a long, long time.
Next on Top Chef This is a sudden death quickfire.
Can you believe it's elimination again? Something's burning! Unacceptable.
Hot--watch your back.
For the first time, Fenway park will be hosting a culinary competition.
- Whoo! - Yeah! I'm feeling like it's Christmas Eve.
Look where we are, huh? Seriously.
Stepping foot on to that field, it does not get any better than that.
.
The fish is hammered.
That was one of the worst things I ate.
Shut the up for a moment.
I'm so scared of you right now.
A lot of simple mistakes are being made here.
You're a chef--make the change there on the spot.
The curse of the bambino.
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