Top Chef (2006) s12e10 Episode Script

Good job, Mei.
Everyone knew you were going to win today.
In the previous challenge, we had to create a dish inspired by a famous literary work.
My dish was inspired by walden, and so far in this competition it's one of the best dishes I've made.
It was the most delicious, satisfying plate of vegetables I've ever eaten.
I've put all that I could put into this competition.
I really feel that I deserve to be in the finals.
To Katsuji.
The most loveable Dick in the entire world.
Katsuji, you're interpretation was as good as anybody's, but unfortunately, the food just didn't hold up.
Katsuji.
He's a pain in the ass, but he's a really, really great guy.
The house is definitely gonna be quiet, and I'm really, really bummed that I lost my buddy.
One last challenge until the final four.
- I hope it's a final four.
- Assuming they stop at four.
Colicchio may never.
I've been kind of struggling with not quite winning as much as I've liked to.
It was just, like, dry and, uh, a little rough.
At this point there's five chefs left and there's definitely some stiff competition, and I'm gonna have to work really hard to make it to the final four.
Five 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.
- Away.
- Oh, my God.
It's so nice out.
During the rush hours challenge, Melissa and I's relationship really bloomed and I see her as, like, a sister.
I thought for sure I was going to be the only Asian.
Like, "oh, she Chinese.
" "She my people.
" We have a lot in common, like, our families just not agreeing in our career choice.
So we really just connected.
Well, congrats.
Let's keep it up.
I know, .
- Girls, dude.
- I know, right? The girls gotta go to the final.
We gotta get to the top.
We walk into the Top Chef kitchen, and there stands Andy Cohen.
Andy is known for his antics, so I'm expecting something really fun to happen.
Good morning.
Please welcome the very handsome host of watch what happens: Live on bravo, Andy Cohen.
Good to see you.
Boston is my college town, so I'm especially happy to be here.
And I brought along my pal.
This is my college roommate.
He's the straight version of me.
It's straight Dave.
Dave ansel.
Thank you for being here, Dave.
What was Andy like in college? Ugh, Andy was endlessly hilarious, a real late-night trickster, and also a big late-night gnosher.
Yes.
Yeah.
You guys, I'm so excited to be here.
Final five.
Who's gonna win? You were slow on the uptake there.
Which judge are you most intimidated by? - Tom.
- Tom? Now, who's hooking up? None? No hook-ups in the house? I think tonight's your night.
I think it's gonna happen tonight.
All right, let's get back to the challenge.
Okay.
All right, Padma.
Taskmaster.
Just like everyone, I have fond memories of college.
There's one particular food that every college student relies on.
- It is our fave.
- Ramen.
The late-night snack, ramen noodles.
- A staple.
- A staple.
For your quickfire challenge, we want you to put your own spin on ramen.
- Have you eaten a lot of ramen? - Oh, yeah.
Yes.
You haven't? - Never in my life.
- Really? What about you, Mei? - I ate ramen growing up, so - Yeah, me too.
When I was a kid I would eat it raw in the packet.
That was, like, my elementary school snack.
Yes.
We'll start you off with the instant noodles.
But you guys have to decide everything else in the mix.
Well, almost everything.
Say hello to the students of Emerson College.
Welcome, guys.
- Good to be here.
- Hello.
Chefs, you will not have access to the Top Chef pantry - for this quickfire.
- That's right, chefs.
The only pantry you'll have access to is the ingredients from these Emerson College students.
They raided their dorm rooms and brought you what they found.
So they may be a little janky.
I know when I'm in college, I didn't have anything in my refrigerator except for, like, beer and gatorade.
Gregory, pick which college student's grocery bag you'd like to take.
Um, I feel a connection with Helen.
- Mei.
- I'll pick Ashley.
- Melissa.
- Um, I'll go for Erin.
What's it gonna be, dougy? When it's my turn to choose, there's only two people left.
One of them looks like a stoner, one doesn't.
- Tim.
- Great.
Guess I have Andrew.
Andy, do you have any last advice for our chefs? - We love cheese.
- Fresh vegetables.
I don't know if there are gonna be many in there.
Students, please deliver your bag of groceries - to the chef who selected you.
- Thanks, bud.
Chefs, there is no immunity in this next quickfire.
However, to sweeten the deal the winner of this quickfire will receive $5,000.
Chefs, you have 30 minutes to make us the most fabulous, delicious ramen you can.
Your time starts now.
Good luck.
Good luck.
- Sushi? - Bacon.
Yes! Oh, my God.
Ranch, baby bells, cheese.
This girl eats a lot of cheese, but Andy mentioned he likes cheese, so I'm gonna try to pull out a ramen Mac and cheese thing.
Chef's salad.
Oh, dude, old pizza.
Old spring rolls.
Chili, corn.
What the hell does this kid eat? Look at this.
There's a half jar of salsa that looks disgusting and crusted.
Damn it, Tim.
Bacon is definitely a good thing.
Definitely can add some salty deliciousness with this.
What's the craziest thing you did in college? Well, I stayed at home.
I didn't live in the dorms.
I definitely spent the night in the drunk tank.
I had so much fun in college.
Definitely rowdy.
Partied a lot.
Kegs of beer everywhere.
Craziest thing? Ooh.
Some friends built a two-story beer bong, and it was double barreled so you can compete with other people and go head-to-head.
My roommate was this big ol' guy named pauly, and there's definitely a couple times where he just kind of carried me home by the back of my shirt.
I didn't think I could even drink that much beer.
Apparently I can.
20 minutes! - You got coconut water? - Yeah.
- Hot dog? - I don't know, dude.
I'm just kind of doing this as I go.
And I'll figure it out at the end.
Gregory, what are you using in your dish? - I got a pizza broth going.
- That's wacky.
I actually scraped the toppings off a sausage and cheese pizza.
We now have a bacon, doritos and leftover pizza broth.
What's in there? What do you have? I have miso soup and tomato broth.
You had miso? I'm gonna be utilizing the v8 juice, miso soup, the nori, and the shrimp.
If I had to make a name for this dish, it would probably be barf-o-rama.
This is quite the diet this kid lives on.
I'm working with the hotdogs and everything.
The chili's gonna be my main sauce.
At the end I want to fold in some canned corn.
And then some American cheese and kinda cross my fingers.
It tastes like college.
It's definitely giving me flashbacks.
- You have five minutes.
- Right behind you.
- Excuse me.
- Five minutes everyone.
Ohh.
Ketchup ramen.
That is so .
I'm looking at my dish-- it looks pretty nice, so I'm gonna give myself an "a" on this one.
20 seconds.
Time's up.
Hand up.
Utensils down! Hi, Doug.
Meet Andy - Dougy.
- Nice to meet you, Andy.
- And Dave.
- Hi, there.
How are you? I definitely got the healthy bag, I feel like.
There was a chef's salad, grilled some tofu, the broth is the coconut-pineapple water.
- Egg.
Tofu.
- Bell pepper.
There's some sunflower seeds in there.
Sweetie.
You know, some might argue that you would have to be high to put these ingredients together.
Thank you.
So today we have a bacon and pizza broth.
- Whoa.
- Excuse me.
Yes, I have found some lovely bacon.
Dave, did you hear what he said? - I know.
- Bacon pizza is a big - tradition.
- I scraped everything on the pizza.
It was a tomato sauce and cheese pizza.
And I rendered some bacon and made a broth out of that.
Freshen it up with a little dorito crunch if you like.
- Oh, dorito crunch.
- Oh.
Yeah, it's in the broth as well, actually.
- Wow.
- He's speaking our language.
- Thank you, Gregory.
- You're welcome.
- Hi, George.
- Hello.
Wow, you've got some gel in your hair, George.
- Thank you very much.
- Yeah.
- What do we got here? - All right, so we have some ramen.
The base of the sauce is canned chili.
I rendered down a little bit of hot dog.
Chunks of already cooked chicken wings.
There's a little bit of crispy spam on top.
It is kind of spaghettios-esque.
- Yeah.
- Kind of what I was going for.
But that hint of hot dog is in there.
- Yeah.
- I love a hint of a hot dog.
- I do too.
- But just a hint.
That's what she said.
- Hi, Melissa.
- Hi, how are you? Today I used Mac and cheese, fritos for kind of like a bread crumb topping, there's some roast chicken in there.
- It's like a carbonara, so - Oh.
- Cheesy and crunchy.
- Keep it simple.
- Mmm.
- Glad to hear college kids are still eating fritos.
- That's a vegetable, right? - Yeah, right? - Hi, Mei.
- Hi.
So I made a spicy tomato miso sauce, with some Sushi shrimp.
Sushi shrimp, or are those two different things? The shrimp I got off of some Sushi I had.
Oh, I see.
There's not much of a broth.
No, it's just more of a sauce.
- Thank you.
- Thanks, Mei.
If I could give myself a grade for this dish, I'd probably give myself a "d-.
" This is not horrible, but I won't be winning my first quickfire.
Oh, Julia child.
- Oh.
- Meeting Jacques pepin, just trying to take it all in.
This is a big deal.
I'm really nervous.
Chefs, that was some interesting ramen.
Thought they did really well, right, Dave? I thought so.
That was some yummy stuff.
Who were some of your least favorites? Mei.
Would have like a little more broth and I think there was a little too much seaweed, that made it too fishy for us.
I think, um, Doug's was a little bit of a challenge.
It was an interesting combo, I just didn't think they all came together.
Who were some of our favorites today? Well, you know, George, your dish was spaghettio-esque.
Unlimited meat.
Meat after meat.
Just when you thought you'd had all the meat, you'd meet another meat.
Some might say that that was a gross dish.
We, however, enjoyed it.
I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but thank you.
Beef-a-reeno, it's not my proudest moment but considering what I had, you know what? It's not bad.
Gregory, really loved the kind of bacony broth.
Well, bacon makes everything better.
- Indeed.
- Melissa's dish, I thought was very good.
I really liked how it soft in texture and then you have that nice frito crunch.
And you threw in some protein, so that was great.
Well, in the end there can only be one winner.
Andy? There was one dish that really hit the bullseye of everything that Dave and I love, and look for in our ramen.
And that chef is Melissa.
Wow.
Congratulations, Melissa.
- Thank you.
- You win $5,000.
That is an expensive bowl of ramen.
I think I'm gonna buy myself a new scooter.
You know, like, ride that thing around San Francisco.
- Thank you, Andy and Dave - Thank you.
- For joining us.
- Thanks, Padma.
Now, I'd like all of you to go back to your stew room.
I have a little surprise waiting there for you.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
Uh, what the hell? What could this be? Okay.
You guys ready for this? - Mei, go for it.
- Ready? Yeah.
Oh, Julia child.
Today we're doing duck.
I heard the call.
Here is the fresh duck.
Jacques, we need two ducks because we're doing two recipes for duck.
Then you'll have to call another one.
- We're making duck? - I don't know.
Julia child is really the most iconic figure.
She wrote so many books on French cuisine, and brought these classic French dishes to American homes.
If it wasn't for her show, there probably wouldn't be shows like Top Chef even today.
- happy cooking.
- And bon appetit.
Oh.
Hi, guys.
Oh, my God.
Jacques pepin.
He's a legend.
I grew up watching Julia with Jacques pepin.
Like, just watching and being in awe.
Please welcome the legendary Jacques pepin.
Welcome back.
I'm delighted to be with you tonight.
I come with a wine.
And a beautiful woman.
Julia child not only brought French cuisine to the American public, she continues to inspire chefs - each and every single day.
- That's true.
I'm still inspired by her.
Chefs, for your elimination challenge we want you to take inspiration from Julia's cooking style.
As well as some of her favorite dishes.
You will make a dish worthy of Julia's legacy.
It should truly be an ode to Julia.
Today you'll have three hours to prep and cook, tomorrow you'll have an additional hour to finish off your dishes on location at the herb lyceum.
Wow.
Right now, you have the opportunity to spend some time with Jacques, so ask all the questions you have, and soak up all you need to know to do Julia proud.
Yes.
Okay, that's a nice sound.
- A little bit for you first off.
- Thank you.
The first time I ever met Julia child was in 1960.
When my friend Helen, she said, "let's cook for her.
" I said, "great, she's a very big woman with a terrible voice.
" And that was Julia.
Chef, what were some of Julia's favorite ways to prepare vegetables.
No grilled vegetables.
She hated grilled vegetables.
And the vegetable have to be separately seasoned.
Like, let's say you're doing the beef bourguignon with mashed potatoes, did you mind if, like, the carrots were, like, in with the mashed potatoes? Or did she like everything separated? Julia used to say, when you had eight different type of vegetable all arranged on a plate, too many people have touched it with your hand and I don't feel like eating it.
Now, I don't want to de-emphasize, you know, the presentation of food.
Of course, it's very important.
But up to a point.
Later at the expense of taste.
You haven't said anything.
I'm just, like, in awe still.
I grew up in east Texas, and here I am meeting Jacques pepin and it's absolutely surreal, and I can't really express myself.
Just trying to take it all in.
Chefs, enjoy.
Good luck tomorrow.
Thank you.
- Take care.
- Good night, you guys.
- Bye-bye.
- I almost started crying - when he came in.
- I know.
That was so crazy.
Okay, look who's up.
Pepin.
- That's all.
- Yeah.
This is a big deal.
I'm really nervous.
All right, guys.
Let's do it.
Yo, tomorrow's gonna be so hard.
Can I get two of these guys? The country.
- Sure.
Yeah.
- Thank you.
Carrots are very French.
We're down here cooking for Jacques.
I'm excited for this.
This challenge is special to me.
Because my first job was cooking at the getty museum.
And I helped make Julia child's birthday cake.
I remember piping out profiteroles and putting them on the cakes.
That's something that I'll never forget.
What are you making? I wanna go with that veal osso buco.
- And what about you, big guy? - Um, I'm doing a coq au vin.
Oh, that's pretty serious.
I have amazing memories of watching Julia cook classic French souffles, and cassoulet, and braises with tons of sauce, so I'm going to make a braised chicken dish coq au vin.
Which is one of my favorite classic French dishes.
11 minutes.
I'm gonna whole roast foie gras.
Balla! When I think of Julia child, I think of the classic French combinations like foie gras and fruit.
Plus, I want to serve my dish family style, just because Julia child was all about the importance of eating and getting together and enjoying the food.
It's kind of a ballsy move to whole roast foie gras for Jacques "pep-een.
" Jacques "pep-en.
" I'm from Texas so I can't pronounce things very well.
Thank you so much.
Be right back.
You know, with only five chefs left in the competition, I think the playing safe card is definitely gone.
I know I'm taking a pretty big risk by roasting whole loaves of foie gras.
So I'm either gonna get a pat on the back or I'm gonna go home.
The pressure is insane.
Nothing can be messed up today.
This dish took a lot of license.
Skin on the duck is very flabby.
The challenge today is to create a dish inspired by Julia child.
Most everything you do in the kitchen, it's all gonna come back to the French basics that Julia child felt so passionately about.
So there's no tricks, it's gotta be just very well executed, well seasoned, perfect food.
- Gregory.
- Yes? I heard that you do a mean impression of Julia child.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hoo-hoo-hoo, braising the chickens.
George, how's it going over there? Going all right, brother.
I'm gonna glaze my carrots, sear really hot in the pan.
Cook them down with a little bit of chicken stock.
I remember my mother used to have Julia child's TV show on when I was a kid.
And I remember Julia would only like to cook what she liked to eat.
And I feel like I'm the same way.
So, the traditional recipe I'm honoring is braised veal shank, with pommes puree, which are mashed potatoes.
And I'm using pressure cookers for my veal today.
How the does this work? Oh, it's on wrong.
There's only three hours and I'm worried if I just do a traditional braise in the oven, it's not gonna cook in time.
All right.
Melissa, how's it going? I'm making braised short ribs.
It's gonna go with polenta and some nice veggies.
Keeping it classic.
As a kid, seeing someone like Julia be a successful female chef, it was really inspiring for me as a kid.
It's very important to me that I stick to traditional French techniques.
You know, Julia would never touch a pressure cooker.
So I want to braise my short ribs the old fashioned way.
But three hours is difficult to get a braise tender.
It's definitely a risk that I feel I have to take, 'cause that's how Julia would have done it.
Just need to keep things simple but delicious.
Oh, my God.
I'm making coq au vin.
I have never made this dish.
I never cook with butter.
Gregory, you're cooking bacon in butter? I'm cooking bacon in butter.
You're embracing the dark side.
Julia loved butter.
I gotta pay her proper respects.
My style of cuisine is Asian-influenced.
It's extremely healthy.
I definitely never cook with butter, so this is going to be a challenge for me, but after talking with Jacques, it's very important not to mess with the classics.
We are burning off the cognac.
Per Julia's request.
Classic French dishes are very challenging because it is all about cooking things properly.
So, I think three hours is not enough time to braise short ribs or hook whole roasted foie gras to Jacques pepin.
Coming up on an hour 30 minutes guys.
- Mei, what are you making? - Duck a l'orange.
I'm pretty sure Julia would love it.
Just a modern interpretation of how I would make it.
For my duck a l'orange I'm not going completely classic on this--I'm adding five spice to the dish.
Five spice is huge in Chinese culture.
And five spice and orange really pair well together.
So that's gonna be my little twist.
Hot, hot, hot, hot.
- Hey, chefs.
- Hey, chef.
Good evening.
- Hey, Mei, how you doing? - Hi, chef, how are you? What is your experience with Julia? Pbs was one of the only stations I could watch as a kid so I definitely spent a lot of time watching Julia child on TV.
- What are you doing? - I am making my version - of duck a l'orange.
- Duck? - Yes, duck.
- Good.
How are you working the orange flavor in? - The orange is in the sauce - Okay.
As well as--I made an orange puree.
- Got it.
- Okay, well good luck to you.
- All right.
Thank you.
- All right.
Good, good.
I'm really comfortable cooking French food.
I went to France a few years ago and I staged at a restaurant called l'atelier de Joel robuchon, and if I were to win any challenge this is going to be it.
- How's it going, chefs? - Good.
- How you doing, Doug? - Good to see you, chef.
- It's an honor.
- So what's going on? I'm doing whole roasted loaves foie gras.
- I love that.
- Sounds good.
People dream about the opportunity to cook for someone like Jacques pepin.
I wanna go huge.
I wanna do something special that is just gonna be so, so larger than life.
I'm doing, like, some peach compote.
You know, I roasted them with lots of herbs, aromatics.
Got some hazelnuts.
But I just wanted to make sure I dropped something big, nice roasted, give you guys a knife and let you go at it.
That is very much in the spirit of her.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I mean truly, that's great.
Can't wait to taste your foie gras.
Thank you, guys, very much.
Gregory.
- Hello, chef.
- Are you ready for us? - Yes, indeed.
- Got some sauce working here.
- Uh, yes, coq au vin, chef.
- Yeah.
Okay.
We have our chicken seared in a little bacon and butter fat.
It's been reducing.
Um, I've added my flour in - the butter mixer.
- Actually, you're doing a roue.
Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Straight up.
- You better be good.
- Merci beaucoup, sir.
- Thank you, yes.
- Thank you, chef.
Okay, chefs.
You got only about half an hour left tonight, an hour tomorrow.
Channel Julia.
We want to see that spirit.
Good luck to you.
Good night, I'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you, chef.
- Thank you.
Merci beaucoup.
Hot coming through.
Hot.
Come on, baby.
How's your meat? Tender? Yeah.
10 minutes.
I'm checking these short ribs and making sure they're tender.
And they're not exactly where I want them to be.
And I'm hoping they carry over and that tomorrow I can finish them in the oven.
All right, guys.
Let's do it.
- Anybody else have scary-- - nightmares? - Did you have a nightmare? - No, I just had dreams about cooking foie gras.
I had dreams about Jacques pepin and Julia child ate my dish repeatedly for an hour and a half since 4:30 A.
M.
Everybody seems nervous right now.
Between us five, everybody's pretty solid.
Any little mistake can cost you the competition.
Yeah, I'm gonna die.
We're here.
Whoo.
We have one hour to finish our Julia child-inspired dishes.
You know, it's not a lot of time so the first thing I do is reheat my chicken.
I realize the final seasonings I added last night have exacerbated over night and it's a little acidic and salty, so I'm adding more broth and re-seasoning.
- 'Sup, buddy.
- Hey, buddy.
During this one-hour cook, I'm making sure that I have all my sauces and my purees, all my vegetables, and my duck cooked.
Mei, how are you feeling about the judges table? Uh, it's gonna be scary.
Welcome, everyone.
So, Jacques, do you remember her making all these dishes? Well, certainly.
Maybe not in the same way.
We did coq au vin, we did braised veal, we did short ribs, we did foie gras, we didn't do a whole one, but we sauteed.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, this is happy food.
But Julia used to say that you have to be up to eating it - as well as making it.
- That's right.
So that's an important part of it.
I'd like to propose a toast.
To Julia, long may she inspire us all.
Thank you all for being here.
- Tell myself to breath.
- Yeah, breath, seriously.
- Here we go! - This will go that much better.
Being able to make something that I had seen Julia create on TV growing up, is an amazing feeling.
And to serve Jacques pepin, whose legacy is just as important, I am so much in awe.
You know, coming on to Top Chef, I knew magical moments like this would happen and I'm savoring this moment as much as possible.
- Hi, Gregory.
- Hello, everyone.
- How are you? - I'm very well.
I made coq au vin.
I actually studied abroad in France, and my host mother, she would make simple dishes like this.
So we have a very much inspired by Julia child's recipe coq au vin.
Nicely seared chicken, simmered with bacon, cognac, red wine and pearl onions.
Uh, glazed carrots and some favas and some snap peas.
Did your mother in burgundy put carrot in her coq au vin? - No, chef.
- No? Okay.
It's on the side, chef.
- Yes.
- Traditionally, I think it was the chicken, the mushrooms, and the pearl onions.
And the carrots and peas are extra.
I would have separated them to show that they are not really part of the dish, but, I mean, that's a small detail.
But it's good.
Well seasoned.
- Thank you, chef.
- I love this chicken.
It just--it's so tender and juicy, it's really delicious.
Well, I happen to love chicken and I love this dish.
I think you've done a nice job.
This is all about solid, good cooking.
And I think you've accomplished that.
- Thank you, chef.
- Thank you, Gregory.
Cheers.
I think Gregory did well there.
When you want more of something, it's probably a good thing.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Yeah.
- How you looking? - Good.
Just gotta make sure everything's hot.
Hey, guys.
I'm tasting all the different components together, and I'm really happy with how it's turning out.
But, I'm really nervous.
I hope the judges appreciate that I put my own little twist to the dish.
I definitely have a special place for Julia in my heart.
She taught me that when you cook, you have to cook with love.
And cooking this dinner, it's an honor.
- Hello, Mei.
- Hi.
What did you make today? I made my version of duck a l'orange.
So I made a turnip puree, orange puree, as well as glazed vegetables.
And how does yours differ from hers do you think? I just added some five spice in mine.
This dish took a lot of license, you cooked it in the spirit, but use more modern style? I also like that you didn't make the same mistake that you made on the lamb a couple challenges back where you made it too rare.
This is--this is nicely cooked.
- I like it.
- Thank you.
You know, I love the orange segments in it.
And the jus is great as well.
Good dish.
Julia and I used to play a game, which was if you were sentenced to death, what would be your last meal? Very often she would say duck a l'orange.
- Nicely done.
- Thank you.
I'm proud of what I put out today.
You know, I really wish that Julia was here to taste it.
I'm happy with the skin.
On the duck, it's very difficult to do it.
This one is good.
You're boiling pretty hard over here, Melissa.
Behind.
Two, four, six, eight, ten, eleven.
- 'Sup, guys? - What up? I used the pressure cooker for my veal shanks.
But I feel like my protein could get cooked a little bit longer.
I hope it's not gonna cost me.
I find mine a little dry.
It's just overseared and undercooked.
I'm definitely on the bottom.
We're all on the bottom.
I'm definitely on the bottom.
We see these videos and I get these amazing flashbacks of watching Julia cook when I was a child.
The thing is don't be afraid of it, just do it.
If you mess it up, nobody will really know.
You take the roast chicken.
I don't know.
I can't do it.
For today we have the braise.
You'll want to glaze with red wine, add tons of butter.
You sh--you-- That's terrible.
Sorry you can't smell it 'cause it's delicious.
The panel of judges that we are cooking for are pretty serious, so I'm super nervous, but the only concerns I have for my dish is just hope that the meat is tender enough.
When I was at mondrian, susie Davidson brought Julia for her birthday.
And it was around August 13th, I said, - "my birthday's in a few days.
" - 14th.
She goes, "well, my birthday's the 15th.
" Same as mine.
After that every year around her birthday she would come into one of my restaurants.
- Ohh.
- And she was always just really happy and it was always just such a treat for the cooks.
And she would come and talk to all of them.
And she was--it was just great.
Hello, chefs, how are you? Good, what did you make? Today you have a braised veal with a little pomme puree, some glazed carrots, morel mushrooms, and glazed asparagus.
I like the way you cooked everything separately, so the flavors are clean and unto themselves, but then you united them in this big, hearty dish.
And those tastes come together quite well.
Thank you very much.
Every bit of the dish is just nicely taken care of, except the meat.
I find the meat to be a tad under-seasoned.
I agree with tom, the meat needed a little more salt.
Um, I'd love a little more butter in there.
Also, did you let the meat rest in the braiser or did you take it out and then re-- - I rested in the sauce.
- You did in sauce? Okay.
Maybe it could have been cooked 20 minutes longer.
- Thank you.
- Thanks, George.
It sucks that they thought my protein wasn't cooked properly.
So I'm just hoping that the flavors were all there.
Well, so far, it's all been good.
It's all been really good.
Melissa, you got four minutes, all right? Thank you.
Yesterday, I was concerned that my short ribs were going to be really tough.
So I kept them in the oven the entire time today.
But now they might be a little dry Or burned.
Aw, man.
- Hi, Melissa.
- Hi.
- What did you make? - So what we have here is a red wine braised short rib with brown butter polenta, and a garden of vegetables.
What's up with the deep charring? I did a pretty heavy sear to get the flavor into the sauce and glazed it in the oven today.
When you braise it the top can get dry and darker.
Yeah, it turns the sauce bitter.
And I'm picking up a little bitterness in the sauce.
I was expecting maybe the short ribs would be - a little bit more unctuous - Yeah.
And juicy, and I find mine a little dry.
Yeah? That's what I was going for.
Yes.
- Thank you, Melissa.
- Thank you.
Bye.
I'm here to honor this dish and to make it represent Julia.
And I didn't take my time with babying the short ribs.
I just feel disappointed.
It's over seared.
So what happens is it gets cooked to the point that the cellular structure is dead.
And it can't accept moisture anymore.
Right.
This is probably the most pressure I've felt in my entire life.
I cook a lot of foie gras, but it's very, very rarely that you get to roast a whole loaf.
Foie gras is basically all fat.
So the more you cook it, the more it's going to render.
If you overcook it, it gets grainy.
And if it's undercooked it's just really soft and kind of squishy and it's not palatable.
Hot, bud.
Hot, hot, hot.
I'm definitely a little bit short on time.
So I don't think my foie gras had enough time to rest.
I'm definitely feeling nervous.
Okay.
Let's go.
Any time you have the opportunity to cook for Jacques pepin, that's huge.
- Hi, dougy.
- Hi, guys.
Cooks dream of that their whole lives.
So I'm very, very excited and very nervous.
I whole roasted loaves of foie gras, with roasted peaches, some sweet and sour onions, and some hazelnuts.
Whenever I think like family style serving like this I think special occasions, so there's nothing more special than foie gras in my opinion.
How did you roast the foie? You just seared it in-- I seared it and put it in the oven.
- How long ago? - About 20 minutes.
It's just overseared and undercooked.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
It's gotta be cooked a long time slower and it needs to rest.
The resting is very important so that-- because it's very flabby, uncooked inside.
I got a little end piece which was cooked and it all tasted really nice.
There's a nice flavor profile with the fruits with the nuts and the rich foie.
It's a good dish, you just undercooked the foie.
- It's a good dish.
- Thank you.
- What happened? - Undercooked.
- Undercooked? - Really? Yeah, it's hard.
Cooking Julia food.
- Three hours? - Yeah, you need like a day.
Well, this has been a wonderful meal and certainly a beautiful tribute to Julia.
All in all it was very satisfying.
All these dishes are in the spirit of Julia, very much.
I think Gregory's coq au vin was really good.
I liked it, except not quite enough sauce in it for me.
I love the coq au vin, I thought it was really well done and it was kind of textbook.
I think Mei's was a little bit more of a personal statement.
Taking a traditional idea and adding her own touch to it.
It was modern and pretty and I still think it had really--sense of the duck a l'orange.
- I'm definitely on the bottom.
- I think we're all there.
We're all on the bottom.
George braised veal.
The veal could have been braised slightly more to get a little more tender.
He got worn out with the pommes puree, they were good, but it was just a hunk of veal.
I thought Melissa's braised short ribs were stringy, they were a little dry and fatty.
And it's too bad because her vegetables were so good.
The vegetables were divine.
I actually really enjoyed Melissa's presentation.
I thought it was a beautiful plate.
I thought the polenta was a really nice touch.
And what did you think of Doug's foie gras? I was so hopeful for Doug's dish and I loved the idea of it.
Unfortunately, it just wasn't executed the way that I thought that even he hoped for.
You look at the dishes that we're talking about that didn't do so well, it was because the technique was wrong.
It's because that's how you create an effect, and a lasting journey on a plate.
And this is where the chefs excelled at, and this is where some of the chefs fell flat.
- Right.
- Well, I want to thank everyone who's here today.
It's been such a special meal.
- Thank you all for coming.
- Cheers.
Let's drink to Julia with great pleasure.
- Bon appetit.
- Bon appetit.
Tom, how do you think our chefs did today? You know, when I think of Julia child it's not so much about creating a mark and creating a personal style.
She was about teaching people the real basics of French technique and good cooking.
Overall, I thought the food was really great.
But there were some little minor techniques and some flaws that you guys made as well.
Gregory and Mei, the two of you had our favorite dishes of this evening.
Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
These dishes were obviously paying homage to Julia.
You know, Gregory, you pretty much gave us a straightforward coq au vin.
Mei, you definitely took inspiration from duck a l'orange, but put your own twist on it.
And so I got a question for you, Gregory, why should your dish win when you did something that was so dead on the nose, versus what Mei did when she put a little bit of herself in there? I feel by being inspired by her recipe and trying to actually recreate something that she made is the highest form of homage.
Mei, why should your dish be the winning dish? My interpretation of this challenge was to pay an homage to Julia, but to really put yourself into it.
And, you know, I found a way to do that with making - an orange puree.
- Yeah, I mean, what you guys did in both your dishes is you nailed the technique.
Your duck was perfectly done.
Your braising on your chicken was perfectly done.
So it's really difficult to find the differences between your dish and who's going to win.
Jacques, please do us the honor of announcing - the winner today.
- Both dishes were classic, they were based on proper technique, and I'm sure that Julia would really have enjoyed those dishes.
I think we all agree that it goes to Mei today.
Uh, so many emotions.
It feels great to win, especially for this challenge.
Just watching Julia growing up, I mean, - such an inspiration to me.
- You transcended that little bit by putting some of yourself, - so congratulations.
- Thank you.
The two of you can please, step to the side.
Doug, George, and Melissa.
One of you will be going home.
The garnishes and the vegetables on all your dishes were really, really great.
But the technique of cooking your proteins--your meats were all off.
Doug, your foie gras was undercooked.
George, I thought your meat was also undercooked.
It wasn't braised long enough.
And same thing, Melissa.
Your meat was definitely undercooked.
So the technique is where you guys kind of just missed out here.
George, how are you feeling right now? I'm not feeling-- feeling too good right now.
I knew I wanted to go with a braise.
I knew three hours was kind of pushing it but I just kind of wanted to go for it.
I was taking the meat out of the pressure cooker and I add--I took the braising liquid-- I strained it back into the veal shanks and let them cool down all the way.
You take it out of the liquid as you did, if you put your meat back and it doesn't-- it dries out.
And that's probably what may have been wrong with that.
Possibly.
Yes.
- Melissa.
- Looking back, I would have probably chose a different protein.
It was a bit aggressive of a choice to do a traditional braise with short ribs.
Were you happy with the sear on it? Was it too much? There was a piece or two that were a little too much.
It ends up being very crusty on top and the fat remains inside without melting.
Let's move on to Doug.
Walk me through the process a bit.
I botched the cookery of it.
I didn't have enough time.
It didn't rest long enough.
So did you know it was undercooked when you put them out? I thought the middle was, like, was under.
It was probably the most ambitious, risk taking dish of all five of you.
But the exterior was all charred and the interior was completely raw.
It didn't really work out.
The thing about Julia child, it wasn't about putting her mark on a dish.
She was really about mastering the art of French technique.
And for the most part, you did.
But unfortunately, one of you will be going home.
It's really amazing.
When you think about Julia child you think about the teacher, the cook, and what she meant to everyone.
And I know that she would not be in favor of making anybody feel bad about cooking food.
And unfortunately, someone's going to feel not so great after tonight.
Padma.
Doug, please pack your knives and go.
Thank you.
Doug, you know, that foie gras wasn't just a little undercooked, it was practically raw in the center.
You know, you do have one more shot to get back in through Last Chance Kitchen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Bye, sweetie.
God damn it.
I definitely did a very ambitious dish.
And knowing that it didn't work out, it's a horrible feeling and disappointment doesn't even come close to describe the feeling.
- Love you.
- It was a pleasure cooking with you.
I'll take a lot from this experience.
Definitely found myself digging deep into places that I didn't know I had.
I know now that I can cook with the best that are out there and I'm gonna kick butt on Last Chance Kitchen and get back in this competition.
Right now on Last Chance Kitchen it's Doug's liverwurst nightmare.
Still thinking of that foie gras? Can Doug's raw talent keep him alive? It wasn't my time to go yet.
Or will Adam and Katsuji stomp Doug right out of the competition for good? Top Chef is a bunch of sick, twisted .
Adam, how long did you rest your meat? To find out, head to bravotv.
Com.
Next, on Top Chef There's only four of you standing here.
So we're gonna give you a little help.
- What's up, dad? - I did not at all expect to see my mother.
The winner will go directly to the final round.
Oh, my God.
Whoo! Oh, yeah, there it is.
Just try it.
Come on.
- Oh, no, I can't.
- Cutting boards.
Get a cutting board.
Just start it.
I'm a little freaked out, 'cause my little brother can't cook.
You realize your brother's burning his mushrooms? What the ? In some cases your family members actually made a better dish than you.
Chefs, next challenge, there's only two left.