Top Chef: Masters (2009) s03e04 Episode Script
Biggest Loser
Previously on Top Chef Masters Everybody, simplify your dish.
No, stop, stop, put it down.
Ten of the most acclaimed chefs in America put their reputations on the line in one culinary clash of the titans.
Ahh! Tonight's waiters will not be coming.
And a charity dinner brought out the worst Naomi and Hugh.
- Are you directing or am I? - I'm sending them out.
She's just trying to take total control, and so am I.
You motherSet your own Damn table.
Despite the rift, Naomi wowed the critics with her simple celery veloute.
The winning chef is Naomi.
Yes.
But John's classic risotto didn't excite the critics at all.
It was just pedestrian.
Please return to the kitchen and pack your knives.
Thanks.
Nine chefs remain, but only one can emerge victorious and win the grand prize of $100,000 for their charity, furnished by Kitchenaid, and be crowned as the winner of Top Chef Masters.
Top Chef Masters 3x04 Biggest Loser Welcome back, chefs.
As we walk into the kitchen, Curtis is standing next to a platter of beautiful artisan cheeses that I know are from every corner of the world.
I'm excited.
Today's quickfire will showcase your creativity as well as the versatility of one of the world's favorite foods.
Your challenge is very simple.
Make a masterful cheese dish.
A cheese dish.
There's no way this is happening.
This is Top Chef Masters, and we know it's not gonna be that easy.
Our guest diner is a cheese connoisseur.
The chef that makes the best dish scores $5,000 for their charity and immunity for the elimination challenge.
Our expert and I will be ready to taste your dishes in 12 minutes' time.
12 minutes.
It takes me longer to shave.
The clock starts now.
A grab a stinky soft French cheese called chaumes, and it's got a lot of punchy flavor.
I think it's gonna go great with apples and onions and skirt steak.
Cooking steak with only 12 minutes is a crazy thing to try to pull off.
But I'm here to challenge myself.
You are a crazy girl.
That's awesome.
Damn it.
12 minutes is a little rough.
So I want the cheese to be the star of the show.
I got this gorgeous colombier, which is a French goat cheese, to make, like, a cheese carpaio.
When you're cutting a cheese, you want to represent the cheese from the core out to the rind, because there's different flavor profiles as you go.
Seven minutes, guys! Right behind you, baby.
I grabbed Manchego, 'cause Manchego's a cheese that I always have in my fridge.
As a child, my mom and dad would travel to Portugal, and I remember opening suitcases and hopefully finding a model car or something to play with.
Instead I come across this stinky cheese.
And then I became a chef because that cheese aroma was embedded into my head.
Choose to go with a grana padano and building off an onion gratin.
Chefs, you have five minutes remaining.
Ooh! Now we're having fun.
Uh-oh.
I choose Cotija cheese, which is a cheese from Mexico.
I'm gonna do steamed corn on the cob with creme fraiche Cotija cheese and dusted with cayenne.
When I do backyard barbecues, everybody's blown away by it.
I choose gouda and mozzarella, and I'm making fritters made in chickpea batter.
The presentation's very Calvin Klein, rather than Paul Smith.
, I think I mighta over-cooked them.
Damn it.
I glanced over at Mary Sue's dish, oh, my God.
She made her own tortillas.
I can't even believe what she got done in 12 minutes.
I feel like a schmuck.
45 seconds! I feel pretty good about my dish, but I feel like maybe it's a little pedestrian.
Have I been creative? I don't know.
I mean, it looks cool.
Chefs, time is up.
Utensils down.
I've never done that to a cheese in my life.
- Norbert.
- Curtis.
- How's it going? - Great, great.
- Good to see you.
- Great to see you.
It's Norbert.
He's gonna go for a French cheese dish.
Our guest diner is Norbert from the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop.
I've been going to that shop for so long, and Norbert knows his stuff.
Norbert, our chefs have had just 12 minutes.
Are you looking for something that incorporates cheese but that's not the center of the dish, or do you want the cheese to be the hero? I think there has to be a real balance there.
- Should we get tasting? - Let's do it.
So this dish is cheese pakora two ways.
It's mozzarella di bufala and gouda.
I wonder who made it.
Looks like it's been deep-fried.
Mozzarella really goes well with almost anything.
I wasn't crazy about the presentation.
I wasn't either.
So this is Manchego with crispy carrot fig, golden raisin, and Sherry.
I just did two little hors d'oeuvre pieces.
Sherry and Manchego, same area.
Goes well together.
Even the carrot and the Manchego I think work really well together.
I thought it was very good.
This is a crisp Camellia goat's cheese with a fried quail's egg, a pepper salad, and hazelnut vinaigrette.
This, I have to say, is stunning.
I just wasn't crazy about the egg.
Have you had an omelet? Next we have chaumes cheese toast with skirt steak, apples and onions with a balsamic dressing.
Fromage de chaumes, it's a washed rind cheese from France.
- From cow's milk.
- Yeah.
I was thinking if he was French then he wouldn't mind the fact that the steak is pretty rare.
This tastes quite good.
I think it's a brilliant idea, and I love that cheese.
Delicious.
I do too, yeah.
I feel proud that I cooked a steak in such a short period of time and that I took the risk and that it ended up being well-received.
So next up we've got a cheese empanada.
It's with Cotija and gouda cheese, and it's got a tomatillo salsa.
This almost looks like a homemade tortilla to me.
You made tortillas? I just made two.
Still, that's, like, 25 steps.
It's also working and rolling it and getting it flat.
I like it.
The choices of the cheese was correct.
So here we have an onion and grana padano gratin with a quail's egg, grilled bread, and asparagus.
Ingredients are all there.
And I love grana padano.
It's overshadowed by parmesan.
Maybe a little too much onion.
We're not reaching that balance between the cheese and the recipe.
It's an onion gratin.
Norbert did not like my dish.
Too many onions.
It was too much, too much, too much.
C'est la vie.
Here we have a quesadilla over rocchetta and prosciutto with some pickled asparagus and a fried quail's egg.
Rocchetta itself is relatively mild.
It should work in almost any recipe.
Intense flavor.
Very intense.
But not enough cheese.
I wanted a little more.
Ugh.
No immunity for you.
Oh! So our next chef has called this dish elote.
It's steamed corn on the cob, creme fraiche, Cotija cheese, and cayenne pepper.
It's a relatively mild cheese.
Ooh, packs a punch.
A little too much of that pepper.
You're from California.
You should know about Mexican food.
Our last chef has used Colombier cheese.
It's a Colombier and prosciutto carpaccio with arugula and croutons.
This is not a cheese that you would find in most places.
It's a good raw milk goat.
The cheese truly comes through.
I really like this one.
Wow, I thought I was playing it safe.
I think these were very inventive.
They took a beautiful cheese and made something beautiful out of it.
You think you've worked out which one's your favorite? I think I have.
Chefs, meet Norbert Wabnig.
He owns the famous cheese store in Beverly Hills.
So, Norbert, tell us about some of your least favorite dishes.
Sometimes the recipe slightly outshone the cheese.
For example, the cayenne pepper.
Floyd.
I thought was a little heavy-handed.
It's a very traditional Mexican dish, and that's the way they make it.
It just went a little too heavy.
The other dish I wasn't enthralled with was the grana padano dish.
George.
I thought the onions overpowered the dish itself.
Why don't you tell us about some of your favorite cheese dishes.
Thought the chaumes dish was outstanding.
Naomi.
Fromage de chaumes has a lot of flavor.
A nice choice to go along with the meat.
Thank you.
Who did the Colombier dish? That was me.
You let the cheese talk.
It was the centerpiece.
Beautifully done.
Thank you.
So, Norbert, you had a few favorites, but you've gotta choose one overall winner.
Who was it? I'd have to say it was the Colombier.
Thank you.
Good job.
I have to thank the cheese too, 'cause it was really gorgeous, so I like winning.
I mean, I haven't won anything but a quickfire so far.
Although I have to say, it still feels really good.
That's $5,000 for your charity, La Cocina, which is furnished by Lexus, and of course the all-important immunity.
Thank you very much.
I'm not saying Traci made a bad dish.
But Traci pretty much put cheese on a plate.
I'm really ticked off about that.
The contestants for The Biggest Loser.
Oh, my God, that's rad.
These dishes are, like, 2,000 calories on their own.
We go over 1,500, we're all gone.
So I'm stressed out about this.
As chefs, we constantly strive to create new and exciting dishes to inspire our diners.
The challenge for a Master is achieving this while being aware of something that affects millions of Americans-- their health.
For your next elimination challenge, we want to see how amazing chefs can create beautiful food for a calorie-conscious diet.
Chefs aren't necessary calorie-conscious.
We're trying to make food that people crave.
Trying to keep it low-cal and have it taste good, that's a tough challenge.
Please welcome trainers Cara and Brett and author of The Mommy Diet and also the host of The Biggest Loser, Alison Sweeney.
- Hi, everybody.
- Hey.
- Hi, Curtis.
- Hey.
Alison, how are the contestants on Biggest Loser doing? They're doing fantastic.
We've been at this a while, and everyone is losing a tremendous amount of weight.
And we know that healthy food can actually taste good thanks to Curtis.
Chefs, your challenge is to give the contestants of The Biggest Loser what they're craving.
Here we have the biggest losers' favorite meals before they started their diet.
I mean, it is gut bomb central.
Deep dish pizzas, meatball subs.
And I could feed my family off one plate for about a week.
Here we have three breakfasts, three lunches, and three dinners.
You'll form three separate teams, and each team will produce one whole day's worth of meals without going over their daily limit of 1,500 calories.
These dishes are, like, 2,000 calories on their own.
So I'm kinda stressed out about this.
You lined up in random order.
So, Naomi, you're gonna be first, and you get the French toast, eggs, and sausage patties.
Celina, you get the bacon, egg, and bagel sandwich.
Mary Sue, corned beef hash.
I feel like, ugh, God.
I would never have picked corned beef hash and eggs to work with.
Traci, the Chinese buffet is yours.
Floyd, meatball parmesan sub with cheese.
Hugh, roast beef with potatoes.
Alex, fried chicken combo with creamed corn.
This is not good.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do to make it with less calories.
Suvir, good old bacon cheeseburger and fries.
George, deep dish pizza supreme is all yours.
And each team will have to make the brownies as well.
You'll each be assigned a nutritionist to monitor your calories.
Brett.
I'd like to introduce you guys to the contestants for The Biggest Loser.
Hi, chefs.
How are you? I'm roast beef.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on? - Who's got the sub? - How are you? - French toast? - How we doing? - Rulon, nice to meet you.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
No, really? Cool.
Extra handshake.
How's it going? 149 pounds so far.
Oh, my God, that's rad.
So let me find out from you what you like about French t toast.
You know, growing up, my mom, she used to go in and cut my little French toast so it looks like little squares.
It's a nostalgic dish for Rulon that his mother used to make.
I'm a mom, and I'm like, "whoa, I get that.
" You put three or four of them together and you-- - Make a stack.
- Yeah.
I'm gonna try to recreate the nostalgia of the dish, but part of me's nervous he's gonna come in and try to have a wrestling match with me if he's not into my dish.
That's so funny that you're from Verona.
Ha! I meet Jay, and I'm kinda surprised because he lives in the next town from me.
And I already find a connection with him and I think, okay, this is starting off well.
Using spice, it's helped me a lot really enjoy it.
It will, and that's what I'm saying, if you use spice in any of these things that you like, we can give you less calories, more flavor.
My son, when he was 15, had put on a lot of weight.
He decided that he was gonna eat right.
He lost all the weight, and he looks great right now.
I feel that if you give people the tools to eat right, they're able to do that.
I'm a firm believer-- less fat, more flavor.
Yeah.
- How 'bout fried chicken? - Whoo-hoo! - I'm Alex.
How are you? - I'm Hannah.
Hannah is a wonderful lady from Texas whose favorite dish in the world is fried chicken.
- I feel like .
- I know.
Oh, good.
It's close to my heart because for the past two and a half years I've lost about 90 pounds.
And if I can help Hannah, that'll be the greatest thing I could get out of Top Chef Masters.
My whole life changed.
So I started working out.
I started-- I don't eat after 6:00.
It was, like, a 19-inch shirt.
I couldn't even get it done.
I'm like, that's it.
I'm done.
You know how horrible you felt.
I know.
So I'm a student, right? And I do a lot of studying, and a lot of that studying is in a bar.
So I love pub food.
Irene's favorite dish is a bacon cheeseburger.
Why not try vegetarian though? I like my beef, but whatever you think.
This is not gonna be that veggie burger that looks like cat food.
For her, a bacon cheeseburger is all about eating meat.
I told her, "you know what, it's not good for you.
" I work in this field with nutritionists, and I have great, tremendous respect for Irene.
So as a chef who's worked on the dishes, shame on me if I present anything but a veggie burger.
For me, if you enjoy cooking and enjoy the flavors, you'll want to do it again.
So it's gonna taste like a brownie.
It's just not gonna feel like a brownie.
And it's not gonna look like a brownie? It's not gonna look like a brownie.
That's a good-looking brownie.
I love this guy.
We're like this already.
Thank you so much, you guys.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you.
That's amazing.
And she walked in like, "you don't look like a Biggest Loser.
" - Uh-uh.
- It's fantastic.
85 pounds.
Match up, I'm breakfast.
I'll go breakfast.
Yep, sounds good.
We split into teams, and we've got 1,500 calories to work with for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a dessert.
We go over 1,500, we're all gone.
I'm doing fried chicken and I can help with the brownie.
I'm not gonna do bread.
I'm very happy with my team.
George is extremely talented.
Naomi's strength is her focus.
When she's focused on her dish, nothing else matters.
So we could do something really, really good.
He walks his dog on the same street that I walk my dog.
Oh, my God, that's cool.
You guys probably crossed paths.
I'm sure we have.
I'm sure we have.
I'm really honored to have this challenge to try to help Rulon lead a healthier lifestyle.
I almost cried.
The dish I'm making is French toast.
I'm pretty worried because George has deep dish pizza.
Floyd has a meatball sub.
And then we have to do the dessert.
And under 1,500 for all that feels like a tall mountain to climb.
Things on your list.
Okay, so 450 or below, that's the key.
I was thinking spring rolls with no-fat rice paper.
Yeah.
Kelpoodles with vegetables.
You say "kelp noodles.
" I think you should just say, "really cool, interesting noodles" to them, to entice them that way.
Yeah, I think--yeah.
I'm doing fried chicken, and I can help with the brownie.
The brownie at the end could really put you over, so we said, look, how 'bout this being the plan? Everybody does theirs individually, get it as low as possible, then we're gonna add it up and see what we have left, and then we'll mess with dessert.
I can help with the brownie too.
Okay.
30 minutes! Let's go! Cara and Brett are on hand at Whole Foods, and I'm thrilled because counting calories is very foreign for chefs like me.
I was gonna do parsnip, celery.
But no potatoes.
- Do I need 'em? - No, not-- I need one of the trainers to carry my baskets.
How many calories in this mozzarella? 70 calories for one ounce.
Just the pizza alone that I was assigned has 2,800 calories.
Do they have the low-fat one here? The high-caloric part of a pizza is the cheese.
So I buy the low-fat version of mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
15 minutes! I want to introduce more spice to the equation, 'cause I can give them flavor in other ways.
How much is the package? What's the weight? 170 calories for one bagel.
I'm excited I can kinda play a part in someone's life.
That's not a bad alternative.
My charity is Harvesters, which is a community food bank in Kansas City.
They fill a backpack and give it to a child in need, and that has food for a week in it.
You feed people, you like-- you nourish their bodies and you nourish their soul.
I would love to see some homemade bagel though.
Oh, I'm gonna make 'em.
I'm gonna make 'em.
'Cause Irene is a meat eater.
I'm counting on you, brother.
We'll make it good for you.
If I were chickpeas, where would I be? I look at the maple syrup, and there's really a lot of calories.
And I'm thinking, oh, God.
And I just, I grab a box of stevia.
It's plant-based, and there's zero calories.
So I can make some kind of syrup with that.
But I've never used it before.
So I am in uncharted waters and very, very worried.
- Thank you.
- See you tomorrow.
Red meat is a direct enemy of our hearts and arteries.
Making a speech right before my dish, he's pretty much crossed the line.
Time's already started? We've got to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for under 1,500 calories.
Does anyone have vanilla beans? We're gonna have to work with a nutritionist that's gonna be counting all of the calories.
I'm thinking to save calories I'm gonna go with a half a slice.
That's 20 calories then each.
I just have no idea how we're gonna pull this off when someone has to be constantly watching over us.
Can you total our calories from what we've told you so far? - Oh, God--no.
- Okay.
I caught the buffalo and cut the balls off.
Our team all agreed we have to each keep our dish under 500 calories.
Then we would have room for dessert.
But if one dish doesn't come out right, we're all gonna go down.
Water, last time I checked, has zero calories.
I got roast beef with a loaded baked potato the size of my head.
It was originally 1,679 calories.
I'm trying to get it down to under 450.
This guy usually really wants to eat a potato this big.
I'm gonna give him a potato this big.
I'm still hitting all the things that Austin wants.
It's just been like somebody took a shrink gun to his food.
How much is the bacon? Bacon has 46 calories per slice.
I have spent years cooking with calories in my head, using farm fresh ingredients.
My partner Charlie and I have a farm in upstate New York.
We realized that my charity is the heart of our community.
It ensures that farmers can keep farming and that children can know that that is where good food comes from.
So I can do peanuts in the cabbage? I would just watch the amount.
Suvir and Alex, can you come now? I feel really indecisive.
I want to satisfy Ken's craving for corned beef hash and eggs, but ultimately we've gotta please the critics.
So it's a fine line we're walking.
Mmm.
I'm allergic to nuts.
Is that okay? Get ready for your funeral.
Want some more? - Hey, guys.
- Hi.
Good to see you.
Where are you from? Are you from all over the country? I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.
- Yeah? - New Jersey.
You're from New Jersey? I live in New York, so And Alan.
Yeah, I live in New York also.
I've lost 203 pounds all together.
Oh, my God.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
One minute.
I'm tasting this food, and a lot of the dishes that I've used that stevia in have a sort of weird bitter aftertaste that is really covering up anything else that I'm eating.
And there's really nothing I can do.
It's gotta go out the door.
Where are the waiters? Oh, hi.
Look at that.
Wow.
Thank you.
Everybody, I'd like to introduce you to our critics.
James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur Magazine.
Danyelle Freeman, editor of online food magazine, Restaurant Girl.
And Alan Sytsma, editor of Grub Street.
Hi.
Naomi, tell us about your dish.
I made French toast, courtesy of Rulon, and it's a spelt bread for the batter.
I just used egg whites.
The syrup is extended by stevia.
And mixed berries on the top there.
I got corned beef hash with eggs over-easy for Ken.
I replaced the beef with Turkey and roasted root vegetables.
And then I serve it with a poached egg.
Thanks to Olivia, I have a bagel and a bacon, egg, and cheese with hashbrowns.
I was really trying to make my bagels myself, but with limited time I opted to use Ezekiel bread.
And then celery root, parsnip, and leek hashbrown.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you, enjoy.
And congratulations again.
As a kid growing up, my mom, she would make, like, whole wheat French toast.
Makes me think of my mom right now.
That's awesome.
I think she did a great technique with the maple syrup.
That's probably one of the most caloric aspects of French toast.
Think you could take on a pretty good workout after a meal like this.
Naomi's French toast, I thought it had that nice sweetness that you're looking for.
I even liked the berries on top of it.
Okay, let's move on.
Mary Sue's hash.
So, Ken, this was your dish.
This was my dish.
I love the way that egg's cooked.
- Really? - I do.
- Bit under for you, Ali? - Yeah.
You know what, I don't care for the egg so much, but the hash is incredible.
Really has a wide variety of flavor to it.
Mary Sue's corned beef hash, it's ugly.
It doesn't look like corned beef hash, and, for God sakes, it's got Turkey in it.
Okay, so, Olivia, bagel, egg, and cheese is hard to beat.
It's very hard.
But she was right, I think the Ezekiel bread was an interesting call.
The thing I like about the Ezekiel bread is there's actually protein in it, which I think is hard to find in a lot of breads.
To me, this dish is a little dry in my mouth.
Celina's bagel sandwich, it was sort of one of those dishes that really, really made me want fat and salt.
By the way, if you want to add some olive oil to each plate, you certainly can because we are gonna come way under on calories.
I'm very happy with every component of my dish except for the corn bread because I forgot to put the applesauce in, which is what makes it moist.
You can put a little more mashed potatoes if you want.
Okay.
The judges are gonna crucify me.
Why? 'Cause it looks ugly.
Chicken towards the guests, please, okay? Chefs, what have we got? I spoke to Jay.
He likes meatballs.
So I kind of changed it.
I used buffalo meat, which is very, very low in calories.
I added onions, tomatoes, and ginger for moisture inside.
But underneath that we have farro and spinach, and there's paneer cheese on top.
Thank you, Floyd.
For Hannah's dish, I did my version of fried chicken with biscuits, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes.
The corn bread I made with nonfat yogurt.
Roasted yams instead of potatoes.
And then I incorporated panko and rice crumbs.
I promised you it would be crispy and juicy, and I think it is.
For Moses I created a Chinese buffet, a little miniature one.
I have broccoli beef, and there's a little bit of white rice.
There is a salad of napa cabbe.
And then a little wonton soup.
Enjoy.
Flavor's great, moist, and the paneer cheese, it adds that nice little extra flavor to the meatball.
It just really packs a wallop of flavor.
I'm surprised at how complicated and yet delicious this dish is.
The meatball is perfectly cooked on Floyd's, I have to say.
I'm now nervous to come back on the ranch and cook for you guys 'cause I know you've tasted that.
That's what we're expecting now, so Yeah, exactly, step it up.
Right? So what are your first impressions of the fried chicken, Hannah? I'm shocked right now.
This is just as crunchy.
The meat is very tender.
I mean, I would make this at home for my family.
Alex's corn muffin, it didn't have the right texture for me.
It was just too heavy, too dense.
As a fried chicken, it's not a terrific substitute.
Traci's Chinese buffet, it's a pleasing little mouthful.
I obviously loved this.
Wow, clean plate club for Moses, everybody.
You know, am I gonna order this? Am I gonna rave about it? No, but I think that it satisfies some of the same cravings that you have when you want Chinese buffet.
Go, go, go.
- Can you wipe, wipe, wipe? - Yeah.
I feel that I'm definitely gonna satisfy Courtney.
I'm able to give her a pizza that's very low in calories but still satisfies her desires.
Done.
Let's see what the judges think.
People may think that I've chosen to do a veggie burger because I am vegetarian.
But my dish is about changing the paradigm.
Eating a veggie burger can be just as celebrated as a bacon cheeseburger.
I made this dish for Courtney.
It's a whole wheat pizza rubbed with a fresh tomato coulis, smoked mozzarella cheese, and aged balsamic vinegar.
I made my dish for Irene, who loves hamburger with bacon and cheese.
My dish brings in a lot of collard vegetables that also have protein in them.
Cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and legumes and beans that give you all the protein that meat can give you without the bad calories of meat.
I was hoping to make a statement that it's very easy to be fooled into eating red meat and thinking we're eating good calories.
Red meat is a direct enemy of our hearts and arteries.
And as a nation, we've really done it wrong for so many decades that we are the fattest nation in the world.
Suvir is very fond of grandstanding.
But making a speech right before my dish about how bad red meat is, I feel like he's pretty much crossed the line.
Maybe you don't do that right in front of when I'm doing red meat.
I'm a little more than pissed off.
I would never do that.
It's very easy to be fooled into eating red meat and thinking we're eating good calories.
Enjoy.
Hugh, tell us about your dish.
My dish is for Austin, and it's a smaller portion of flank steak.
And flank steak's very lean.
It's not as sinister as Suvir was making it out to be.
I think it's still good and we can still eat it.
Underneath there's a little salsa Verde.
Next to it, fingerling potatoes.
Some white and green asparagus, and that's really about it.
- Chefs, thank you.
- Enjoy.
Maybe you don't do that right in front of when I'm doing red meat.
I'm a little more than pissed off.
Suvir goes on a rant about how bad red meat is right in front of my dish.
I would never do that.
I'm sinister.
You did plenty.
- Sorry? - Nothing.
You did plenty.
More than you should have.
Taking red meat and condensing the size a little bit, it's fooling yourself into thinking you're doing something correct.
Sinister brownies.
I think if the gloves were coming off, I wish I'd been told 'cause I'm more than happy to jump into the fight.
You just lit up when you got it.
Yeah, this is delicious.
I never thought I'd like that many vegetables on my pizza, but it's so good.
I personally love pizza that has all the veggies on it.
It's got a ton of flavor.
I love the basil on it, which is great.
There's a little bit of smoked mozzarella.
A smoked cheese has got this really intense flavor, so I think it's a great choice, 'cause you can get away with using just a little bit of it.
Trying to take a burger-eater and turn the dish totally vegetarian, take the French fries off the plate, put some raw cabbage on there, you know, it better taste good.
I'm just gonna eat this as if I was in private.
What are you guys thinking about Suvir's burger? I think it overall tastes pretty good, but it tastes nothing like a burger.
And Irene loves a bacon cheeseburger.
That's her thing.
I'm actually kind of dying to know what she thinks of it.
The burger isGood.
That didn't sound very enthusiastic, Irene.
See, I like my meat.
And it almost tastes potatoey.
I mean, potatoes are good.
I like my meat more.
So, Austin, apparently you're a steak and potatoes guy.
What do you think? Hugh did it perfectly.
And again, it was the portion control, and it was the yogurt for the sour cream that can really give you that creaminess that you love in your potatoes.
Still get the smoke from the Turkey bacon, which is what you want crumbled on top.
Hugh gave it to me perfect.
I love it.
It's a perfectly-cooked piece of meat.
I love the tiny potatoes.
- Here's my meat.
- She loves her beef.
Oh, right, yeah, there, she gets her beef.
There you go.
A piece of this needs to go on that.
- What is this? - .
I am absolutely thrilled to be serving these people.
It's a huge honor, really, to be asked to be in a room with people that are committed to making their lives better.
It's like, I could learn something from these people.
What's our total calorie count? - For the whole meal? - Yeah.
It is 1,216.
So I feel excellent.
1,380, we're under 1,400 calories.
Combined, our main courses were under 1,000.
So we were, uh, very--yeah, overachieving skinny people.
You think? This can't be good for you.
What we've seen today is exactly what we need to be able to cook for ourselves.
So the blue team's original calorie count came in at a grand total of 4,350 calories.
But with the adjustments that the chefs made, they brought it in at 1,221 calories.
Wow.
Red made it in 1,263 calories.
And green made it in 1,368 calories.
They had calories to spare.
- Pretty damn yummy, right? - Not bad.
Ooh, it really, you know, kicks your butt when you gotta cook without any of your normal tricks.
You mean, like, five tons of fat? Yeah.
Exactly.
Chefs, after nine courses, I've never felt so light on my feet, I've gotta tell you.
Blue team, Naomi, Floyd, George, do you want to follow me, please? Sure.
Chefs, the critics decided that your team Was the winning team.
Congratulations.
Yes.
Awesome.
Whoo.
You did it with 1,221 calories.
That's nearly 4,000 calories less than the original items.
- Wow.
- Amazing.
Wow, nice work.
We were all just really moved by the whole opportunity.
I almost cried when I heard his story, losing, like, 140 pounds.
And I feel honored to be standing here.
George, your pizza was so much less caloric and satisfying in exactly the same way that a pizza needs to be.
It was a challenge, but, you know, I just thought, hey, it's gotta be damn good crust.
It's gotta be healthy, and I took it pretty seriously.
Floyd, you managed to turn a healthy meatball sub sandwich into something sexy and exotic.
I do understand about, you know, eating in the northeast and subs and cheese and heavy.
And, you know, that was a big sub.
So it was kind of wild trying to figure it out.
Naomi, you had your normal arsenal yanked away from you, and you really did a terrific job.
I tried to make up a lot of it with just the fresh berries, because they're so full of fiber and, you know, vitamin "C" and they're so good for you.
The berries were a really nice addition to the dish.
Thank you.
Okay, chefs, from the winning team the critics selected one overall favorite dish.
And the winning chef is Floyd.
Nice! Whoo! Nice work.
It looked amazing.
It feels good to be helping people lose weight and give them the tools to help them maintain that lifestyle.
Those meatballs were a knockout, Floyd.
They were so great.
- Thanks a lot.
- Congratulations.
Good for you.
That's $10,000 for your charity, the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund, furnished by Lexus.
Well done.
Thank you so much.
I am so excited to get $10,000 for my charity, because it's gonna do good work for all the cancer research that needs to get done.
Please return to the wine room and have some of your colleagues join us.
Thank you.
They're back.
The winners are back.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Floyd is the winner? - Floyd! Spicy meatball.
Um, they'd like to see Suvir, Mary Sue, and Alex.
Suvir, Alex, Mary Sue, unfortunately the critics felt that your three dishes were the weakest.
Suvir, what was your experience working with your contestant? I said, you know what, I have to take the difficult road and give something that Irene may not enjoy, but it is a statement to be made.
And I said to myself, whether I get slapped or not, that's what I need to do.
For me, I don't know, what was your decision behind making the wedge of mock meat? James, you have to somehow make them have a new dialogue.
Suvir, I think you cooked to your strengths.
But I also think that it came across on the plate that you were cooking for yourself and not for the diner.
I work with people who are losing weight.
It's very easy to keep meat as an option to them.
And if the obesity-- we have a pandemic of obesity in America.
I thought it was very good, but I work at The Biggest Loser very regularly, and I study nutrition, and I don't know that you can compare the epidemic of obesity with the increase in meat intake.
You know, I think there's a lot of other things that contribute.
I'm sorry.
I get that.
Mary Sue, how did you cook the egg? I slow-poached it.
It's my favorite way to cook eggs.
You do get that nice even cooking from the circulator, but the yolk to me was just-- it didn't run over.
It didn't become the sauce the way it really needed to.
I felt that Ken wasn't really ready for a loose egg, and I was hoping to try to please him and you, but it was a fine line.
It really did mimic corned beef.
On the other hand, I would have liked to see a finer dice to make it seem more like a coherent yummy hash dish.
Alex.
What I didn't really like was the corn bread.
It was leaden as a baseball for me, no offense.
It was more like a hockey puck.
Why'd you send it out if you knew that it was subpar? I guess instinctively I said she wanted her corn bread and I put it there.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have put it.
You're absolutely right.
Respectfully, Alex, I was not crazy about the texture of the chicken itself.
It was not moist.
And it was just kind of boring-tasting chicken breast.
I thought the yogurt would have kept it pretty moist.
Critics, thank you for your comments.
Chefs, please go back and wait in the wine room while the critics come to a decision.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, chefs.
- Thank you.
Aye-yi-yi.
You don't know.
You have no idea.
Sit down.
Wow.
I thought we had the greatest food.
I think the chefs have shown a great deal of skill, but one of these three dishes has to be a least favorite.
Alex's sides, I thought they were terrible.
He turned creamed corn into this bizarre baby food consistency thing.
It was weirdly sweet and didn't really even taste like corn.
But this is the challenge: Satisfy The Biggest Loser contestant's craving, and she was at the table with us, and she just could not get enough.
I was perplexed by that.
Alex decided that he was gonna try and get as close to the original.
Suvir went in a totally different way.
You can tell that he wants people to eat better genuinely.
It just didn't come across in this dish.
Suvir was serving a lecture on a plate.
Along with that pita too, which, you know, you're trying to show off your chops.
And instead it was kinda cold and tough and just really unamazing.
If Mary Sue served something as simple as a corned beef hash and poached eggs, if she can't even get the poached eggs to your liking, why should she stay? She's always willing to be good, not great.
I think that we saw that with the ceviche.
We're really seeing it with Mary Sue's hash.
My egg was overcooked.
I would have liked those vegetables much smaller.
Or into a really fine julienne or maybe even grated them.
She just keeps playing it safe.
I can't take another minute in front of those judges.
Well, it looks like you've come to a consensus on your least favorite dish.
Yes.
It's funny, after cooking all that light, good-for-you food, we have pate and triple-cream cheese.
Loving it.
Chefs don't pay much attention to calories, and we should.
Why are these mashed potatoes so delicious? Oh, they have a pound of butter in them.
Exactly.
Tasting stuff all day long, I mean, you can pack in some serious calories.
So it's a constant battle.
I'll actually sit down to dinner, eat, like, a quarter of what my six-year-old eats.
And they'll all be like, "are you okay?" I'm like, "yeah, I just snacked.
" Yeah.
Chefs, as a team you served the critics' least favorite meals tonight.
And as a result, one of you will be going home.
Suvir, as talented a chef as you are, your burger had none of the juicy succulence that we crave in a burger.
Alex, I appreciate your effort, but I was aware with every mouthful that I was eating low-Cal food.
Mary Sue, your hash was rustic, comforting, soulful.
But at the end of the day, it just didn't rise to the level that a Top Chef master's dish needs to.
One of you had the critics' least favorite dishes and will be eliminated tonight.
The chef that will be leaving us is Suvir.
You've shown us some great food across the course of the competition.
You are a master of your craft.
You should be very proud of the food that you served.
Of course you have won $7,800 for your charity, the agricultural stewardship association.
Thank you for giving me that opportunity.
But now, Suvir, you must return to the kitchen and pack your knives.
Mary Sue, Alex, please return to your fellow chefs.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, Suvir's customer tonight wasn't that happy.
I really applaud Suvir's humanitarian goals, and I do believe in their sincerity.
However, it was just bland, boring food.
Bye, everybody.
I hate it.
If I had done what Hugh did with red meat, I would have failed myself and everybody who's ever invested time in me to educate me about this issue.
Good luck.
All right? You all, the best.
I like the guy, and it's sad to see anybody go.
But I think that there are a lot of ways to change the way people eat.
Suvir just seems to think that his way is the only way, and if you don't believe it, oh! You are a visionary, and your integrity will take you very far.
This was the best exit.
Thank you.
I could not have left this show at a higher point, 'cause I leave for my convictions, having made a little difference.
We love you.
Next time on Top Chef Masters Today you'll be taking over the drive-through.
- The skirt steak.
- I can't hear you.
Damn it.
It's chaos right off the bat.
Is that for here or to go? I got radio silence here.
We're never gonna get our food.
- George, I'm still waiting.
- Yes.
I'm not enjoying this fast food environment.
You need the sides with these fish tacos.
It's a complete disaster.
Come on, you're Us up.
For more information on Top Chef Masters, visit bravotv.
com.
No, stop, stop, put it down.
Ten of the most acclaimed chefs in America put their reputations on the line in one culinary clash of the titans.
Ahh! Tonight's waiters will not be coming.
And a charity dinner brought out the worst Naomi and Hugh.
- Are you directing or am I? - I'm sending them out.
She's just trying to take total control, and so am I.
You motherSet your own Damn table.
Despite the rift, Naomi wowed the critics with her simple celery veloute.
The winning chef is Naomi.
Yes.
But John's classic risotto didn't excite the critics at all.
It was just pedestrian.
Please return to the kitchen and pack your knives.
Thanks.
Nine chefs remain, but only one can emerge victorious and win the grand prize of $100,000 for their charity, furnished by Kitchenaid, and be crowned as the winner of Top Chef Masters.
Top Chef Masters 3x04 Biggest Loser Welcome back, chefs.
As we walk into the kitchen, Curtis is standing next to a platter of beautiful artisan cheeses that I know are from every corner of the world.
I'm excited.
Today's quickfire will showcase your creativity as well as the versatility of one of the world's favorite foods.
Your challenge is very simple.
Make a masterful cheese dish.
A cheese dish.
There's no way this is happening.
This is Top Chef Masters, and we know it's not gonna be that easy.
Our guest diner is a cheese connoisseur.
The chef that makes the best dish scores $5,000 for their charity and immunity for the elimination challenge.
Our expert and I will be ready to taste your dishes in 12 minutes' time.
12 minutes.
It takes me longer to shave.
The clock starts now.
A grab a stinky soft French cheese called chaumes, and it's got a lot of punchy flavor.
I think it's gonna go great with apples and onions and skirt steak.
Cooking steak with only 12 minutes is a crazy thing to try to pull off.
But I'm here to challenge myself.
You are a crazy girl.
That's awesome.
Damn it.
12 minutes is a little rough.
So I want the cheese to be the star of the show.
I got this gorgeous colombier, which is a French goat cheese, to make, like, a cheese carpaio.
When you're cutting a cheese, you want to represent the cheese from the core out to the rind, because there's different flavor profiles as you go.
Seven minutes, guys! Right behind you, baby.
I grabbed Manchego, 'cause Manchego's a cheese that I always have in my fridge.
As a child, my mom and dad would travel to Portugal, and I remember opening suitcases and hopefully finding a model car or something to play with.
Instead I come across this stinky cheese.
And then I became a chef because that cheese aroma was embedded into my head.
Choose to go with a grana padano and building off an onion gratin.
Chefs, you have five minutes remaining.
Ooh! Now we're having fun.
Uh-oh.
I choose Cotija cheese, which is a cheese from Mexico.
I'm gonna do steamed corn on the cob with creme fraiche Cotija cheese and dusted with cayenne.
When I do backyard barbecues, everybody's blown away by it.
I choose gouda and mozzarella, and I'm making fritters made in chickpea batter.
The presentation's very Calvin Klein, rather than Paul Smith.
, I think I mighta over-cooked them.
Damn it.
I glanced over at Mary Sue's dish, oh, my God.
She made her own tortillas.
I can't even believe what she got done in 12 minutes.
I feel like a schmuck.
45 seconds! I feel pretty good about my dish, but I feel like maybe it's a little pedestrian.
Have I been creative? I don't know.
I mean, it looks cool.
Chefs, time is up.
Utensils down.
I've never done that to a cheese in my life.
- Norbert.
- Curtis.
- How's it going? - Great, great.
- Good to see you.
- Great to see you.
It's Norbert.
He's gonna go for a French cheese dish.
Our guest diner is Norbert from the Beverly Hills Cheese Shop.
I've been going to that shop for so long, and Norbert knows his stuff.
Norbert, our chefs have had just 12 minutes.
Are you looking for something that incorporates cheese but that's not the center of the dish, or do you want the cheese to be the hero? I think there has to be a real balance there.
- Should we get tasting? - Let's do it.
So this dish is cheese pakora two ways.
It's mozzarella di bufala and gouda.
I wonder who made it.
Looks like it's been deep-fried.
Mozzarella really goes well with almost anything.
I wasn't crazy about the presentation.
I wasn't either.
So this is Manchego with crispy carrot fig, golden raisin, and Sherry.
I just did two little hors d'oeuvre pieces.
Sherry and Manchego, same area.
Goes well together.
Even the carrot and the Manchego I think work really well together.
I thought it was very good.
This is a crisp Camellia goat's cheese with a fried quail's egg, a pepper salad, and hazelnut vinaigrette.
This, I have to say, is stunning.
I just wasn't crazy about the egg.
Have you had an omelet? Next we have chaumes cheese toast with skirt steak, apples and onions with a balsamic dressing.
Fromage de chaumes, it's a washed rind cheese from France.
- From cow's milk.
- Yeah.
I was thinking if he was French then he wouldn't mind the fact that the steak is pretty rare.
This tastes quite good.
I think it's a brilliant idea, and I love that cheese.
Delicious.
I do too, yeah.
I feel proud that I cooked a steak in such a short period of time and that I took the risk and that it ended up being well-received.
So next up we've got a cheese empanada.
It's with Cotija and gouda cheese, and it's got a tomatillo salsa.
This almost looks like a homemade tortilla to me.
You made tortillas? I just made two.
Still, that's, like, 25 steps.
It's also working and rolling it and getting it flat.
I like it.
The choices of the cheese was correct.
So here we have an onion and grana padano gratin with a quail's egg, grilled bread, and asparagus.
Ingredients are all there.
And I love grana padano.
It's overshadowed by parmesan.
Maybe a little too much onion.
We're not reaching that balance between the cheese and the recipe.
It's an onion gratin.
Norbert did not like my dish.
Too many onions.
It was too much, too much, too much.
C'est la vie.
Here we have a quesadilla over rocchetta and prosciutto with some pickled asparagus and a fried quail's egg.
Rocchetta itself is relatively mild.
It should work in almost any recipe.
Intense flavor.
Very intense.
But not enough cheese.
I wanted a little more.
Ugh.
No immunity for you.
Oh! So our next chef has called this dish elote.
It's steamed corn on the cob, creme fraiche, Cotija cheese, and cayenne pepper.
It's a relatively mild cheese.
Ooh, packs a punch.
A little too much of that pepper.
You're from California.
You should know about Mexican food.
Our last chef has used Colombier cheese.
It's a Colombier and prosciutto carpaccio with arugula and croutons.
This is not a cheese that you would find in most places.
It's a good raw milk goat.
The cheese truly comes through.
I really like this one.
Wow, I thought I was playing it safe.
I think these were very inventive.
They took a beautiful cheese and made something beautiful out of it.
You think you've worked out which one's your favorite? I think I have.
Chefs, meet Norbert Wabnig.
He owns the famous cheese store in Beverly Hills.
So, Norbert, tell us about some of your least favorite dishes.
Sometimes the recipe slightly outshone the cheese.
For example, the cayenne pepper.
Floyd.
I thought was a little heavy-handed.
It's a very traditional Mexican dish, and that's the way they make it.
It just went a little too heavy.
The other dish I wasn't enthralled with was the grana padano dish.
George.
I thought the onions overpowered the dish itself.
Why don't you tell us about some of your favorite cheese dishes.
Thought the chaumes dish was outstanding.
Naomi.
Fromage de chaumes has a lot of flavor.
A nice choice to go along with the meat.
Thank you.
Who did the Colombier dish? That was me.
You let the cheese talk.
It was the centerpiece.
Beautifully done.
Thank you.
So, Norbert, you had a few favorites, but you've gotta choose one overall winner.
Who was it? I'd have to say it was the Colombier.
Thank you.
Good job.
I have to thank the cheese too, 'cause it was really gorgeous, so I like winning.
I mean, I haven't won anything but a quickfire so far.
Although I have to say, it still feels really good.
That's $5,000 for your charity, La Cocina, which is furnished by Lexus, and of course the all-important immunity.
Thank you very much.
I'm not saying Traci made a bad dish.
But Traci pretty much put cheese on a plate.
I'm really ticked off about that.
The contestants for The Biggest Loser.
Oh, my God, that's rad.
These dishes are, like, 2,000 calories on their own.
We go over 1,500, we're all gone.
So I'm stressed out about this.
As chefs, we constantly strive to create new and exciting dishes to inspire our diners.
The challenge for a Master is achieving this while being aware of something that affects millions of Americans-- their health.
For your next elimination challenge, we want to see how amazing chefs can create beautiful food for a calorie-conscious diet.
Chefs aren't necessary calorie-conscious.
We're trying to make food that people crave.
Trying to keep it low-cal and have it taste good, that's a tough challenge.
Please welcome trainers Cara and Brett and author of The Mommy Diet and also the host of The Biggest Loser, Alison Sweeney.
- Hi, everybody.
- Hey.
- Hi, Curtis.
- Hey.
Alison, how are the contestants on Biggest Loser doing? They're doing fantastic.
We've been at this a while, and everyone is losing a tremendous amount of weight.
And we know that healthy food can actually taste good thanks to Curtis.
Chefs, your challenge is to give the contestants of The Biggest Loser what they're craving.
Here we have the biggest losers' favorite meals before they started their diet.
I mean, it is gut bomb central.
Deep dish pizzas, meatball subs.
And I could feed my family off one plate for about a week.
Here we have three breakfasts, three lunches, and three dinners.
You'll form three separate teams, and each team will produce one whole day's worth of meals without going over their daily limit of 1,500 calories.
These dishes are, like, 2,000 calories on their own.
So I'm kinda stressed out about this.
You lined up in random order.
So, Naomi, you're gonna be first, and you get the French toast, eggs, and sausage patties.
Celina, you get the bacon, egg, and bagel sandwich.
Mary Sue, corned beef hash.
I feel like, ugh, God.
I would never have picked corned beef hash and eggs to work with.
Traci, the Chinese buffet is yours.
Floyd, meatball parmesan sub with cheese.
Hugh, roast beef with potatoes.
Alex, fried chicken combo with creamed corn.
This is not good.
I have no idea what I'm gonna do to make it with less calories.
Suvir, good old bacon cheeseburger and fries.
George, deep dish pizza supreme is all yours.
And each team will have to make the brownies as well.
You'll each be assigned a nutritionist to monitor your calories.
Brett.
I'd like to introduce you guys to the contestants for The Biggest Loser.
Hi, chefs.
How are you? I'm roast beef.
Nice to meet you.
What's going on? - Who's got the sub? - How are you? - French toast? - How we doing? - Rulon, nice to meet you.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
No, really? Cool.
Extra handshake.
How's it going? 149 pounds so far.
Oh, my God, that's rad.
So let me find out from you what you like about French t toast.
You know, growing up, my mom, she used to go in and cut my little French toast so it looks like little squares.
It's a nostalgic dish for Rulon that his mother used to make.
I'm a mom, and I'm like, "whoa, I get that.
" You put three or four of them together and you-- - Make a stack.
- Yeah.
I'm gonna try to recreate the nostalgia of the dish, but part of me's nervous he's gonna come in and try to have a wrestling match with me if he's not into my dish.
That's so funny that you're from Verona.
Ha! I meet Jay, and I'm kinda surprised because he lives in the next town from me.
And I already find a connection with him and I think, okay, this is starting off well.
Using spice, it's helped me a lot really enjoy it.
It will, and that's what I'm saying, if you use spice in any of these things that you like, we can give you less calories, more flavor.
My son, when he was 15, had put on a lot of weight.
He decided that he was gonna eat right.
He lost all the weight, and he looks great right now.
I feel that if you give people the tools to eat right, they're able to do that.
I'm a firm believer-- less fat, more flavor.
Yeah.
- How 'bout fried chicken? - Whoo-hoo! - I'm Alex.
How are you? - I'm Hannah.
Hannah is a wonderful lady from Texas whose favorite dish in the world is fried chicken.
- I feel like .
- I know.
Oh, good.
It's close to my heart because for the past two and a half years I've lost about 90 pounds.
And if I can help Hannah, that'll be the greatest thing I could get out of Top Chef Masters.
My whole life changed.
So I started working out.
I started-- I don't eat after 6:00.
It was, like, a 19-inch shirt.
I couldn't even get it done.
I'm like, that's it.
I'm done.
You know how horrible you felt.
I know.
So I'm a student, right? And I do a lot of studying, and a lot of that studying is in a bar.
So I love pub food.
Irene's favorite dish is a bacon cheeseburger.
Why not try vegetarian though? I like my beef, but whatever you think.
This is not gonna be that veggie burger that looks like cat food.
For her, a bacon cheeseburger is all about eating meat.
I told her, "you know what, it's not good for you.
" I work in this field with nutritionists, and I have great, tremendous respect for Irene.
So as a chef who's worked on the dishes, shame on me if I present anything but a veggie burger.
For me, if you enjoy cooking and enjoy the flavors, you'll want to do it again.
So it's gonna taste like a brownie.
It's just not gonna feel like a brownie.
And it's not gonna look like a brownie? It's not gonna look like a brownie.
That's a good-looking brownie.
I love this guy.
We're like this already.
Thank you so much, you guys.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you.
That's amazing.
And she walked in like, "you don't look like a Biggest Loser.
" - Uh-uh.
- It's fantastic.
85 pounds.
Match up, I'm breakfast.
I'll go breakfast.
Yep, sounds good.
We split into teams, and we've got 1,500 calories to work with for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a dessert.
We go over 1,500, we're all gone.
I'm doing fried chicken and I can help with the brownie.
I'm not gonna do bread.
I'm very happy with my team.
George is extremely talented.
Naomi's strength is her focus.
When she's focused on her dish, nothing else matters.
So we could do something really, really good.
He walks his dog on the same street that I walk my dog.
Oh, my God, that's cool.
You guys probably crossed paths.
I'm sure we have.
I'm sure we have.
I'm really honored to have this challenge to try to help Rulon lead a healthier lifestyle.
I almost cried.
The dish I'm making is French toast.
I'm pretty worried because George has deep dish pizza.
Floyd has a meatball sub.
And then we have to do the dessert.
And under 1,500 for all that feels like a tall mountain to climb.
Things on your list.
Okay, so 450 or below, that's the key.
I was thinking spring rolls with no-fat rice paper.
Yeah.
Kelpoodles with vegetables.
You say "kelp noodles.
" I think you should just say, "really cool, interesting noodles" to them, to entice them that way.
Yeah, I think--yeah.
I'm doing fried chicken, and I can help with the brownie.
The brownie at the end could really put you over, so we said, look, how 'bout this being the plan? Everybody does theirs individually, get it as low as possible, then we're gonna add it up and see what we have left, and then we'll mess with dessert.
I can help with the brownie too.
Okay.
30 minutes! Let's go! Cara and Brett are on hand at Whole Foods, and I'm thrilled because counting calories is very foreign for chefs like me.
I was gonna do parsnip, celery.
But no potatoes.
- Do I need 'em? - No, not-- I need one of the trainers to carry my baskets.
How many calories in this mozzarella? 70 calories for one ounce.
Just the pizza alone that I was assigned has 2,800 calories.
Do they have the low-fat one here? The high-caloric part of a pizza is the cheese.
So I buy the low-fat version of mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
15 minutes! I want to introduce more spice to the equation, 'cause I can give them flavor in other ways.
How much is the package? What's the weight? 170 calories for one bagel.
I'm excited I can kinda play a part in someone's life.
That's not a bad alternative.
My charity is Harvesters, which is a community food bank in Kansas City.
They fill a backpack and give it to a child in need, and that has food for a week in it.
You feed people, you like-- you nourish their bodies and you nourish their soul.
I would love to see some homemade bagel though.
Oh, I'm gonna make 'em.
I'm gonna make 'em.
'Cause Irene is a meat eater.
I'm counting on you, brother.
We'll make it good for you.
If I were chickpeas, where would I be? I look at the maple syrup, and there's really a lot of calories.
And I'm thinking, oh, God.
And I just, I grab a box of stevia.
It's plant-based, and there's zero calories.
So I can make some kind of syrup with that.
But I've never used it before.
So I am in uncharted waters and very, very worried.
- Thank you.
- See you tomorrow.
Red meat is a direct enemy of our hearts and arteries.
Making a speech right before my dish, he's pretty much crossed the line.
Time's already started? We've got to prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert for under 1,500 calories.
Does anyone have vanilla beans? We're gonna have to work with a nutritionist that's gonna be counting all of the calories.
I'm thinking to save calories I'm gonna go with a half a slice.
That's 20 calories then each.
I just have no idea how we're gonna pull this off when someone has to be constantly watching over us.
Can you total our calories from what we've told you so far? - Oh, God--no.
- Okay.
I caught the buffalo and cut the balls off.
Our team all agreed we have to each keep our dish under 500 calories.
Then we would have room for dessert.
But if one dish doesn't come out right, we're all gonna go down.
Water, last time I checked, has zero calories.
I got roast beef with a loaded baked potato the size of my head.
It was originally 1,679 calories.
I'm trying to get it down to under 450.
This guy usually really wants to eat a potato this big.
I'm gonna give him a potato this big.
I'm still hitting all the things that Austin wants.
It's just been like somebody took a shrink gun to his food.
How much is the bacon? Bacon has 46 calories per slice.
I have spent years cooking with calories in my head, using farm fresh ingredients.
My partner Charlie and I have a farm in upstate New York.
We realized that my charity is the heart of our community.
It ensures that farmers can keep farming and that children can know that that is where good food comes from.
So I can do peanuts in the cabbage? I would just watch the amount.
Suvir and Alex, can you come now? I feel really indecisive.
I want to satisfy Ken's craving for corned beef hash and eggs, but ultimately we've gotta please the critics.
So it's a fine line we're walking.
Mmm.
I'm allergic to nuts.
Is that okay? Get ready for your funeral.
Want some more? - Hey, guys.
- Hi.
Good to see you.
Where are you from? Are you from all over the country? I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.
- Yeah? - New Jersey.
You're from New Jersey? I live in New York, so And Alan.
Yeah, I live in New York also.
I've lost 203 pounds all together.
Oh, my God.
That's amazing.
Thank you.
One minute.
I'm tasting this food, and a lot of the dishes that I've used that stevia in have a sort of weird bitter aftertaste that is really covering up anything else that I'm eating.
And there's really nothing I can do.
It's gotta go out the door.
Where are the waiters? Oh, hi.
Look at that.
Wow.
Thank you.
Everybody, I'd like to introduce you to our critics.
James Oseland, the editor-in-chief of Saveur Magazine.
Danyelle Freeman, editor of online food magazine, Restaurant Girl.
And Alan Sytsma, editor of Grub Street.
Hi.
Naomi, tell us about your dish.
I made French toast, courtesy of Rulon, and it's a spelt bread for the batter.
I just used egg whites.
The syrup is extended by stevia.
And mixed berries on the top there.
I got corned beef hash with eggs over-easy for Ken.
I replaced the beef with Turkey and roasted root vegetables.
And then I serve it with a poached egg.
Thanks to Olivia, I have a bagel and a bacon, egg, and cheese with hashbrowns.
I was really trying to make my bagels myself, but with limited time I opted to use Ezekiel bread.
And then celery root, parsnip, and leek hashbrown.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you, enjoy.
And congratulations again.
As a kid growing up, my mom, she would make, like, whole wheat French toast.
Makes me think of my mom right now.
That's awesome.
I think she did a great technique with the maple syrup.
That's probably one of the most caloric aspects of French toast.
Think you could take on a pretty good workout after a meal like this.
Naomi's French toast, I thought it had that nice sweetness that you're looking for.
I even liked the berries on top of it.
Okay, let's move on.
Mary Sue's hash.
So, Ken, this was your dish.
This was my dish.
I love the way that egg's cooked.
- Really? - I do.
- Bit under for you, Ali? - Yeah.
You know what, I don't care for the egg so much, but the hash is incredible.
Really has a wide variety of flavor to it.
Mary Sue's corned beef hash, it's ugly.
It doesn't look like corned beef hash, and, for God sakes, it's got Turkey in it.
Okay, so, Olivia, bagel, egg, and cheese is hard to beat.
It's very hard.
But she was right, I think the Ezekiel bread was an interesting call.
The thing I like about the Ezekiel bread is there's actually protein in it, which I think is hard to find in a lot of breads.
To me, this dish is a little dry in my mouth.
Celina's bagel sandwich, it was sort of one of those dishes that really, really made me want fat and salt.
By the way, if you want to add some olive oil to each plate, you certainly can because we are gonna come way under on calories.
I'm very happy with every component of my dish except for the corn bread because I forgot to put the applesauce in, which is what makes it moist.
You can put a little more mashed potatoes if you want.
Okay.
The judges are gonna crucify me.
Why? 'Cause it looks ugly.
Chicken towards the guests, please, okay? Chefs, what have we got? I spoke to Jay.
He likes meatballs.
So I kind of changed it.
I used buffalo meat, which is very, very low in calories.
I added onions, tomatoes, and ginger for moisture inside.
But underneath that we have farro and spinach, and there's paneer cheese on top.
Thank you, Floyd.
For Hannah's dish, I did my version of fried chicken with biscuits, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes.
The corn bread I made with nonfat yogurt.
Roasted yams instead of potatoes.
And then I incorporated panko and rice crumbs.
I promised you it would be crispy and juicy, and I think it is.
For Moses I created a Chinese buffet, a little miniature one.
I have broccoli beef, and there's a little bit of white rice.
There is a salad of napa cabbe.
And then a little wonton soup.
Enjoy.
Flavor's great, moist, and the paneer cheese, it adds that nice little extra flavor to the meatball.
It just really packs a wallop of flavor.
I'm surprised at how complicated and yet delicious this dish is.
The meatball is perfectly cooked on Floyd's, I have to say.
I'm now nervous to come back on the ranch and cook for you guys 'cause I know you've tasted that.
That's what we're expecting now, so Yeah, exactly, step it up.
Right? So what are your first impressions of the fried chicken, Hannah? I'm shocked right now.
This is just as crunchy.
The meat is very tender.
I mean, I would make this at home for my family.
Alex's corn muffin, it didn't have the right texture for me.
It was just too heavy, too dense.
As a fried chicken, it's not a terrific substitute.
Traci's Chinese buffet, it's a pleasing little mouthful.
I obviously loved this.
Wow, clean plate club for Moses, everybody.
You know, am I gonna order this? Am I gonna rave about it? No, but I think that it satisfies some of the same cravings that you have when you want Chinese buffet.
Go, go, go.
- Can you wipe, wipe, wipe? - Yeah.
I feel that I'm definitely gonna satisfy Courtney.
I'm able to give her a pizza that's very low in calories but still satisfies her desires.
Done.
Let's see what the judges think.
People may think that I've chosen to do a veggie burger because I am vegetarian.
But my dish is about changing the paradigm.
Eating a veggie burger can be just as celebrated as a bacon cheeseburger.
I made this dish for Courtney.
It's a whole wheat pizza rubbed with a fresh tomato coulis, smoked mozzarella cheese, and aged balsamic vinegar.
I made my dish for Irene, who loves hamburger with bacon and cheese.
My dish brings in a lot of collard vegetables that also have protein in them.
Cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, and legumes and beans that give you all the protein that meat can give you without the bad calories of meat.
I was hoping to make a statement that it's very easy to be fooled into eating red meat and thinking we're eating good calories.
Red meat is a direct enemy of our hearts and arteries.
And as a nation, we've really done it wrong for so many decades that we are the fattest nation in the world.
Suvir is very fond of grandstanding.
But making a speech right before my dish about how bad red meat is, I feel like he's pretty much crossed the line.
Maybe you don't do that right in front of when I'm doing red meat.
I'm a little more than pissed off.
I would never do that.
It's very easy to be fooled into eating red meat and thinking we're eating good calories.
Enjoy.
Hugh, tell us about your dish.
My dish is for Austin, and it's a smaller portion of flank steak.
And flank steak's very lean.
It's not as sinister as Suvir was making it out to be.
I think it's still good and we can still eat it.
Underneath there's a little salsa Verde.
Next to it, fingerling potatoes.
Some white and green asparagus, and that's really about it.
- Chefs, thank you.
- Enjoy.
Maybe you don't do that right in front of when I'm doing red meat.
I'm a little more than pissed off.
Suvir goes on a rant about how bad red meat is right in front of my dish.
I would never do that.
I'm sinister.
You did plenty.
- Sorry? - Nothing.
You did plenty.
More than you should have.
Taking red meat and condensing the size a little bit, it's fooling yourself into thinking you're doing something correct.
Sinister brownies.
I think if the gloves were coming off, I wish I'd been told 'cause I'm more than happy to jump into the fight.
You just lit up when you got it.
Yeah, this is delicious.
I never thought I'd like that many vegetables on my pizza, but it's so good.
I personally love pizza that has all the veggies on it.
It's got a ton of flavor.
I love the basil on it, which is great.
There's a little bit of smoked mozzarella.
A smoked cheese has got this really intense flavor, so I think it's a great choice, 'cause you can get away with using just a little bit of it.
Trying to take a burger-eater and turn the dish totally vegetarian, take the French fries off the plate, put some raw cabbage on there, you know, it better taste good.
I'm just gonna eat this as if I was in private.
What are you guys thinking about Suvir's burger? I think it overall tastes pretty good, but it tastes nothing like a burger.
And Irene loves a bacon cheeseburger.
That's her thing.
I'm actually kind of dying to know what she thinks of it.
The burger isGood.
That didn't sound very enthusiastic, Irene.
See, I like my meat.
And it almost tastes potatoey.
I mean, potatoes are good.
I like my meat more.
So, Austin, apparently you're a steak and potatoes guy.
What do you think? Hugh did it perfectly.
And again, it was the portion control, and it was the yogurt for the sour cream that can really give you that creaminess that you love in your potatoes.
Still get the smoke from the Turkey bacon, which is what you want crumbled on top.
Hugh gave it to me perfect.
I love it.
It's a perfectly-cooked piece of meat.
I love the tiny potatoes.
- Here's my meat.
- She loves her beef.
Oh, right, yeah, there, she gets her beef.
There you go.
A piece of this needs to go on that.
- What is this? - .
I am absolutely thrilled to be serving these people.
It's a huge honor, really, to be asked to be in a room with people that are committed to making their lives better.
It's like, I could learn something from these people.
What's our total calorie count? - For the whole meal? - Yeah.
It is 1,216.
So I feel excellent.
1,380, we're under 1,400 calories.
Combined, our main courses were under 1,000.
So we were, uh, very--yeah, overachieving skinny people.
You think? This can't be good for you.
What we've seen today is exactly what we need to be able to cook for ourselves.
So the blue team's original calorie count came in at a grand total of 4,350 calories.
But with the adjustments that the chefs made, they brought it in at 1,221 calories.
Wow.
Red made it in 1,263 calories.
And green made it in 1,368 calories.
They had calories to spare.
- Pretty damn yummy, right? - Not bad.
Ooh, it really, you know, kicks your butt when you gotta cook without any of your normal tricks.
You mean, like, five tons of fat? Yeah.
Exactly.
Chefs, after nine courses, I've never felt so light on my feet, I've gotta tell you.
Blue team, Naomi, Floyd, George, do you want to follow me, please? Sure.
Chefs, the critics decided that your team Was the winning team.
Congratulations.
Yes.
Awesome.
Whoo.
You did it with 1,221 calories.
That's nearly 4,000 calories less than the original items.
- Wow.
- Amazing.
Wow, nice work.
We were all just really moved by the whole opportunity.
I almost cried when I heard his story, losing, like, 140 pounds.
And I feel honored to be standing here.
George, your pizza was so much less caloric and satisfying in exactly the same way that a pizza needs to be.
It was a challenge, but, you know, I just thought, hey, it's gotta be damn good crust.
It's gotta be healthy, and I took it pretty seriously.
Floyd, you managed to turn a healthy meatball sub sandwich into something sexy and exotic.
I do understand about, you know, eating in the northeast and subs and cheese and heavy.
And, you know, that was a big sub.
So it was kind of wild trying to figure it out.
Naomi, you had your normal arsenal yanked away from you, and you really did a terrific job.
I tried to make up a lot of it with just the fresh berries, because they're so full of fiber and, you know, vitamin "C" and they're so good for you.
The berries were a really nice addition to the dish.
Thank you.
Okay, chefs, from the winning team the critics selected one overall favorite dish.
And the winning chef is Floyd.
Nice! Whoo! Nice work.
It looked amazing.
It feels good to be helping people lose weight and give them the tools to help them maintain that lifestyle.
Those meatballs were a knockout, Floyd.
They were so great.
- Thanks a lot.
- Congratulations.
Good for you.
That's $10,000 for your charity, the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund, furnished by Lexus.
Well done.
Thank you so much.
I am so excited to get $10,000 for my charity, because it's gonna do good work for all the cancer research that needs to get done.
Please return to the wine room and have some of your colleagues join us.
Thank you.
They're back.
The winners are back.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Floyd is the winner? - Floyd! Spicy meatball.
Um, they'd like to see Suvir, Mary Sue, and Alex.
Suvir, Alex, Mary Sue, unfortunately the critics felt that your three dishes were the weakest.
Suvir, what was your experience working with your contestant? I said, you know what, I have to take the difficult road and give something that Irene may not enjoy, but it is a statement to be made.
And I said to myself, whether I get slapped or not, that's what I need to do.
For me, I don't know, what was your decision behind making the wedge of mock meat? James, you have to somehow make them have a new dialogue.
Suvir, I think you cooked to your strengths.
But I also think that it came across on the plate that you were cooking for yourself and not for the diner.
I work with people who are losing weight.
It's very easy to keep meat as an option to them.
And if the obesity-- we have a pandemic of obesity in America.
I thought it was very good, but I work at The Biggest Loser very regularly, and I study nutrition, and I don't know that you can compare the epidemic of obesity with the increase in meat intake.
You know, I think there's a lot of other things that contribute.
I'm sorry.
I get that.
Mary Sue, how did you cook the egg? I slow-poached it.
It's my favorite way to cook eggs.
You do get that nice even cooking from the circulator, but the yolk to me was just-- it didn't run over.
It didn't become the sauce the way it really needed to.
I felt that Ken wasn't really ready for a loose egg, and I was hoping to try to please him and you, but it was a fine line.
It really did mimic corned beef.
On the other hand, I would have liked to see a finer dice to make it seem more like a coherent yummy hash dish.
Alex.
What I didn't really like was the corn bread.
It was leaden as a baseball for me, no offense.
It was more like a hockey puck.
Why'd you send it out if you knew that it was subpar? I guess instinctively I said she wanted her corn bread and I put it there.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have put it.
You're absolutely right.
Respectfully, Alex, I was not crazy about the texture of the chicken itself.
It was not moist.
And it was just kind of boring-tasting chicken breast.
I thought the yogurt would have kept it pretty moist.
Critics, thank you for your comments.
Chefs, please go back and wait in the wine room while the critics come to a decision.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, chefs.
- Thank you.
Aye-yi-yi.
You don't know.
You have no idea.
Sit down.
Wow.
I thought we had the greatest food.
I think the chefs have shown a great deal of skill, but one of these three dishes has to be a least favorite.
Alex's sides, I thought they were terrible.
He turned creamed corn into this bizarre baby food consistency thing.
It was weirdly sweet and didn't really even taste like corn.
But this is the challenge: Satisfy The Biggest Loser contestant's craving, and she was at the table with us, and she just could not get enough.
I was perplexed by that.
Alex decided that he was gonna try and get as close to the original.
Suvir went in a totally different way.
You can tell that he wants people to eat better genuinely.
It just didn't come across in this dish.
Suvir was serving a lecture on a plate.
Along with that pita too, which, you know, you're trying to show off your chops.
And instead it was kinda cold and tough and just really unamazing.
If Mary Sue served something as simple as a corned beef hash and poached eggs, if she can't even get the poached eggs to your liking, why should she stay? She's always willing to be good, not great.
I think that we saw that with the ceviche.
We're really seeing it with Mary Sue's hash.
My egg was overcooked.
I would have liked those vegetables much smaller.
Or into a really fine julienne or maybe even grated them.
She just keeps playing it safe.
I can't take another minute in front of those judges.
Well, it looks like you've come to a consensus on your least favorite dish.
Yes.
It's funny, after cooking all that light, good-for-you food, we have pate and triple-cream cheese.
Loving it.
Chefs don't pay much attention to calories, and we should.
Why are these mashed potatoes so delicious? Oh, they have a pound of butter in them.
Exactly.
Tasting stuff all day long, I mean, you can pack in some serious calories.
So it's a constant battle.
I'll actually sit down to dinner, eat, like, a quarter of what my six-year-old eats.
And they'll all be like, "are you okay?" I'm like, "yeah, I just snacked.
" Yeah.
Chefs, as a team you served the critics' least favorite meals tonight.
And as a result, one of you will be going home.
Suvir, as talented a chef as you are, your burger had none of the juicy succulence that we crave in a burger.
Alex, I appreciate your effort, but I was aware with every mouthful that I was eating low-Cal food.
Mary Sue, your hash was rustic, comforting, soulful.
But at the end of the day, it just didn't rise to the level that a Top Chef master's dish needs to.
One of you had the critics' least favorite dishes and will be eliminated tonight.
The chef that will be leaving us is Suvir.
You've shown us some great food across the course of the competition.
You are a master of your craft.
You should be very proud of the food that you served.
Of course you have won $7,800 for your charity, the agricultural stewardship association.
Thank you for giving me that opportunity.
But now, Suvir, you must return to the kitchen and pack your knives.
Mary Sue, Alex, please return to your fellow chefs.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, Suvir's customer tonight wasn't that happy.
I really applaud Suvir's humanitarian goals, and I do believe in their sincerity.
However, it was just bland, boring food.
Bye, everybody.
I hate it.
If I had done what Hugh did with red meat, I would have failed myself and everybody who's ever invested time in me to educate me about this issue.
Good luck.
All right? You all, the best.
I like the guy, and it's sad to see anybody go.
But I think that there are a lot of ways to change the way people eat.
Suvir just seems to think that his way is the only way, and if you don't believe it, oh! You are a visionary, and your integrity will take you very far.
This was the best exit.
Thank you.
I could not have left this show at a higher point, 'cause I leave for my convictions, having made a little difference.
We love you.
Next time on Top Chef Masters Today you'll be taking over the drive-through.
- The skirt steak.
- I can't hear you.
Damn it.
It's chaos right off the bat.
Is that for here or to go? I got radio silence here.
We're never gonna get our food.
- George, I'm still waiting.
- Yes.
I'm not enjoying this fast food environment.
You need the sides with these fish tacos.
It's a complete disaster.
Come on, you're Us up.
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com.