Top Chef Masters

I am so excited I can't stand it. Last night as I was watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey (don't even act like it's not incredible...) and I saw a commercial for TOP CHEF MASTERS. What? What is this show you are speaking of? Basically, Top Chef is going to start a new show that features prominent chefs defending their honor on the culinary battle ground and competing for charity. If you look at the cast list here you are going to notice some pretty big names and former judges on the show.

A couple of my personal favorites:

• Wylie Dufresne - The owner of WD-50 and molecular gastronomy god.


• John Besh - Adorable New Orleans chef that has been on Iron Chef and I believe he won! Right?


• Art Smith - Oprah's former personal chef and overall southern delight to watch :) He has been on Iron Chef too, but I think he lost...

I am not too familiar with any of the judges, but that's ok I am sure they are legit. I kind of wish that Tom Collichio threw his chef hat into the ring, but maybe they are saving that for another competition - "Top Chef Masters All Star Challenge."

Anyways, I am seriously counting down the days until June 10th at 10pm EST! This is going to be a great summer show!

New Poll

Simliar, but different...

Whoever voted for Fabio last week, was clearly wrong (that's ok, he was on my team).

So this week I really want to know -- Who do you think will be the next Top Chef????

Don't forget to watch Wednesday February 25 at 10 EST on Bravo.

If you haven't read Tom Colichhio's Blog I highly suggest it! It offers lots of unique insights into the eipsodes: http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/blogs/tom-colicchio

Top Chef Talk

JAMIE IS GONE!!

That is really all that needs to be sad. If she didn't have the worst attitude next to Leah, I might be sad...

However, this does cause reason for concern -- Is Stefan really going to win???? Undoubtably he is the best, but there is something to be said about a chef inspiring those around them, and I sincerely believe that Stefan does not do that.

THOUGHTS??

Top Chef Talk

So this week was another Holiday themed episode, and hey, I'm seasonal so I like it. The Quick Fire Challenge feature the goddess of all things domestic, Martha Stewart, and she tasked the chefs with creating a one pot wonder…

Here were the results:

Bottom:

• Jeff – potato risotto (too starchy)
  
• Eugene – Korean stew (didn't like corn syrup)
  
• Fabio – polenta (couldn't tell mushrooms from polenta)
  

Top:

• Hosea – paella
  
• Jamie – scallop and kale
  
• Ariana – beef on top of cauliflower puree
  

Winner: Ariana (SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY, I mean, she had Padma spit out her food)

So after Ariana wins immunity and the challenge is presented: Create dishes based on the theme of the 12 days of Christmas for an AIDS foundation for Guest judge Natasha Richarson

Bottom:

• Jamie – 7 swans a swimming – crudo of scallop in vichyssoise with lemon agrumato, leeks and micro greens
  
  • problem: serve too raw, no one like temperature
    
• Eugene – 5 golden rings - Poisson cru with pineapple ring and gold Yukon potato chip
  
  • too sweet
    
• Melissa – 8 maids a milking – sourdough crustini and gorgonzola cheese with NY strip and cranberry vinaigrette
  
  • problem: all you got was cheese
    

Top:

• Hosea – 11 pipers piping – smoked Pork tenderloin with chipotle mashed potatoes and apple brandy jus
  
• Jeff – 10 lords a leaping – seared halloumi and kasseri cheese with roasted beets, pears, mint and spices
  
• Stefan – 12 drummers drumming – chicken pot pies with English peas, white asparagus thyme and parsley
  
• Radika – partridge in a pear tree – braised duck leg on toasted brioche with pear chutney and toasted pistachios
  

Winner: Hosea wins!!

Loser: NO ONE. Ok how lame is that? Holidays or not I still want someone kicked off, because, oh yeah, that's the point of the show. They always say "remember this is a competition" but yet they do things like this!!!!

I can only hope that in the next episode Melissa goes home. I don't know why, but she bothers me.

Top Chef Talk

If you are just tuning in read my summary about last week's Top Chef.

So this week was a pretty good episode, I mean you could completely tell which dishes succeeded and which ones fell short, but that's ok because 3 out of my 4 team members did pretty well.

This week's quick fire was to test out the chefs palatte and have them face off against each other by challenging each other to name a certain number of ingredients...The first round was a shrimp and lobster boulibassie which actually contained 30 ingredients, but I believe the maximum "bet" was 7 ingredients. The next round was a thai basil curry sauce, and again this had a lot of ingredients, but I think 7 was the top again...

Then there were 3: Carla, Stephan, and Hosea. The last sauce was a Spanish Mole sauce. Carla got knocked out the first round and Stephan shortly after that, leaving Hosea (eh hem, on my team) to win immunity.

For the elimination challenge the chefs were tasked with catering Gail Simmon's (top chef judge and editor for Food and Wine magazine) wedding. The twist: the food must revolve around the 4 wedding themes of something old, something new, something borrow and something blue.

Here's a breakdown of the 4 teams:

• Something old: Jeff, Stephan, and Hosea
• Something new: Eugene, Danny and Carla
• Something borrowed: Jamie, Radhika, and Ariana
• Something blue: Fabio, Melissa, and Leah

The two standouts were something old and something borrowed.

Something old, used an heirloom tomato which sits old on the vine and created a trio of dishes around the tomato. Something borrowed, "borrowed" their flavors from Radhika, who is Indian, and a spice from Jamie's secret stash. They created a lamb dish with a spicy carrot puree.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't think the tomato dish looked that great, but everyone that actually tasted it really seemed to like it. However, the lamb dish, looked incredible.

In the end the "borrowed" team won and Ariana took home another elimination win (seriously... seriously...I can't believe she is still around). Jamie was NOT happy about that! She basically had such an attitude and thought that she should have won...

The something new group took the fall and Danny was sent home. I don't even want to talk about their dish, because I didn't understand it at all.

I am really hoping the weak continue to be picked off and this competition starts to get really heated...

What are your thoughts on this season??

Top Chef Talk

Ok so I love Top Chef. I've loved it since season 2 when Sam Talbot stole my reality TV heart and showed me more reasons to love food. In fact, I would credit Top Chef to igniting the flame in my foodie heart.

This season is no different. With each season the Chefs are getting better and the bar set higher. Some people that appeared to be super weak in the first two episodes have gone on to redeem themselves (eh hem Ariana).

Each season Jef and I do a pseudo-fantasy Top Chef team. This year I chose:

• Fabio - the little Italian that has proved himself as tough competition
• Hosea - the Colorado Chef that has studied under Wolfgang Puck and has stumbled some, but looks promising
• Jeff - the pretty boy from Florida who is Chef de Cuisine of The DiLido Beach Club
• Radhika - the Fench and Indian trained chef with a nack for spice and bold flavors

Even though I had to pick second I am really pleased with my team this season...

Anyways we are into the 4th episode of the fifth season and already had some interesting challenges. This week for the quick fire challenge the chef were asked to create a breakfast dish using Rocco DiSpirto's favorite ingredients (bacon, bread, eggs, overall nothing that unusual) but to make it an amuse-bouche (a single bite appetizer). The standouts were:

• Leah
• Jamie
• Stephan

Leah ended up wining and scored immunity. For the eliminated challenge the chefs were tasked with creating a 2 minute demo of their dish with the prize of winning a spot on the Today Show demonstrating their dish to millions of Americans. The winner would be chosen by the Today Show crew (Meredith, Kathy Lee etc.)

The stand outs were:

• Jeff - his middle eastern flavored roll
• Fabio – seared tuna with roasted carrots and balsamic glaze
• Ariana – New Jersey beef steak tomato, watermelon, and feta

The bottom three:

• Jamie – frisee salad with duck egg, bacon
• Melissa – habenaro shrimp
• Alex – crème brule

Jamie suffered from an undercooked egg and a bad attitude when she realize it, Melissa shrimp burnt everyone's palette and Alex decided to do an impossible task - create a creme brule in an hour. In the end it was time for Alex to pack his knives and go. Ariana ended up winning (which I think was only because she created the most generic dish that everyone could like).

This season is starting to get interesting and the weakest players continue to be knocked out. Should be interesting as the season progresses!!