Top Chef Blog: Game On
by Faith-Ashleigh Wong
On this week’s menu: a taste of Mexico, a game of six animals, and a double serving of dessert!
Entrée – Quickfire Challenge
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, fl – I mean, cook! The chef-testants have to create a dish that marries well with their choice of tequila. Tequila-tastic!
I know how to pair wine with food but I have to say I wouldn’t know how to do the same with spirits. It seems, however, that the way to go was Asian.
Beverley did a cold-smoked green tea oyster which looked clean and fresh and even though I don’t eat oyster, I kind of wanted to try that! Edward’s bok choy lettuce wrap sounded rather tasty, especially that cactus and mango salad. The winning dish though was Ty-Lör’s steamed clams in a Thai-style fish caramel sauce. Sometimes simple is what’s best.
Main – Elimination Challenge
Guest judge and Top Chef Masters alum Tim Love challenges the chefs to a game – of the meaty kind. The chefs are paired up and paired with a game meat – venison, squab, elk, boar, duck or quail.
Poor Beverley gets paired with the big bully of the season, Heather. Ironically they have probably the easiest protein out of the bunch but with Heather’s abrasive attitude, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
To top it off, Padma drops a bombshell on them, well two, actually. First – they have to cook additional plates because they will be tasting each other’s cooking and consequently determining which teams will be sent to judges’ table. Second – it is going to be a double elimination. The upside to this is at least there’s a $10,000 cash prize up for grabs!
Lindsay and Chris C presented a roasted while boar rack as a typical barbecue plate but with a fine dining spin. Their dish stood out to me because of that peach barbecue sauce – sounds heavenly!
Paul and Sarah’s squab two ways dish was a great way of merging both their ideas on the plate. Poor Sarah struggled the whole way through with getting the sausage working, though from both the judges’ and chef-testants’ feedback, it sounds like she managed to pull it off in the end.
Edward and Ty-Lör’s sorghum quail with pickled cherries gets deemed best dish of the night. It looks like the kitchen gods are looking down on Ty-Lör in favour this week!
Dessert – Judges Table
Collectively the chefs vote Dakota/Nyesha, Chris J/Grayson and Heather/Beverley as the bottom three teams. Once again Chris J’s adventurous ideas get the better of him and I think it’s no surprise that Heather and Beverley are there.
Personally I felt Heather throwing Beverley under the bus like that should have gotten her eliminated but then that would have meant Beverley would get the boot too. Ultimately there was just no recovering from that too blue venison that Dakota and Nyesha served up.