Recap Roundup - Top Chef Masters 3 Episode 8

Jordan Baker on the Reichl Effect: "Hugh says it’s a great honor to have been here for his charity, and a lot of fun. He says some other things, but I keep thinking about how much he must hate Ruth Reichl and her giant hair colony – in the 5 episodes where she was off writing annoying, gnomic tweets, he did really well. But in 2 of the 3 episodes where she was around, he got bounced."

SF Foodie on the Quickfire judging: "Like something out of a mad scientists wet dream, the guest judges were two comediennes fused together in the for Frangela (Francis and Angela). Even though everyone seemed to make the same dish -- zapped chanterelles and eggs together -- longtime microwaver Hugh was deemed the winner."

Oregon Live on wardrobe choices: "But it's only the judges' opinions that matter this week. Regular judge James Oseland shows up in a ridiculous black bow tie and pencil-thin suspenders (maybe he didn't think he'd have time to go home and change before heading to the barber shop quartet competition after the show), the latest in his sartorial weirdness this season."

Reality TV Calendar on teamwork: "And in the checkout line, the all good friends together thing is demonstrated again. Floyd needs more meat. Mary Sue offers to buy it for him. There’s no time to get it to her to meet the time constraint but Floyd gets the meat from the butcher and tosses it down the stairs into the waiting arms of Hugh who tosses it to Mary Sue who is in line and all is well. The Harlem Globetrotters would be proud."

Is Marquee Blog watching the same versions of Top Chef as we are? "The other thing is that this week’s guest critic is Padma Lakshmi. I’m THRILLED to have Padma liven up this show. You know who shouldn’t be thrilled? Curtis Stone. Because when you see what a good host can bring to the table, even in a guest appearance, it provides a stark contrast to just how wooden he is."

TWOP on shopping: "The chefs head to Whole Foods for the usual shop n' talk. Hugh is making an okra salad where the kids have to make their own mayonnaise. Yeah, THAT should be a big winner with the teens. He's going to have to sculpt those little okra in the shape of Justin Bieber if he wants the teens to even consider letting them past their lips. Naomi on the other hand is making pizza with three different types of flour to show how elasticity is affected. Traci dead pans that she is going to cook fish in acid a.k.a. ceviche. Ricotta was too boring. The end. It's too bad Traci can't buy some charisma at Whole Foods."

Celebrity Chefs Examiner on the scientists: "Curtis brings on the science as well as the chefs’ “lab assistants”, who are five scientists who have five ingredients representing scientific principles. Carlin is a Nanotechnologist who has pizza dough to represent Elasticity. Heidi is a chemist with milk and molasses representing Viscosity. Carolyn is an Evolutionary Biologist with citrus, representing Acidity. Augustine is a physicist with a vinaigrette representing Emulsion. Michael is a physicist with beef to represent the Maillard Reaction.

Monkeys as Critics on science: "There’s a lot of science talk that makes me think Alton Brown is soooo much more interesting than this and I now give him that much more credit for making science and food interesting. Hugh seems to agree with me, as he usually skipped science class growing up. Floyd, however, has a masters in biochemistry. Now, that’s an edge! No wonder his dad was disappointed he became a chef. No offense, it all turned out alright, but still, that’s a lot of education to only use during a reality competition challenge."

AV Club's stray observation of the week: "I love (read: hate) how Floyd’s reaction to a terrible joke about cooking bacon naked was to make an even worse joke about a meat grinder. Curtis was relieving some tension in an awkward moment with two generally unfunny comediennes; Floyd was just trying too hard."

Grub Street on funny business: "For no reason at all, the Quickfire judges are comedy duo Frangela, whom you might remember if you used to spend your Friday nights misguidedly watching Best Week Ever. Like many comedians, they say nothing funny at all, and the only good thing they do is ask Curtis to take his shirt off. (He does not oblige.) Curtis advises the ladies never to cook bacon naked. 'And never use a meat grinder naked, too!' Floyd adds. Let’s leave the dumb jokes to Hugh, shall we?"

A Just Recompense on Famous Microwave Users: "But here’s the thing, people: El Bulli is considered by most to be the best restaurant in the world, and chef Albert Adria prides himself on his 40-second microwave sponge cake (which Richard Blais has made a couple of times while sous-ing for Cat Cora on Iron Chef). See what you might’ve been able to do if you weren’t such microwave snobs?"

Eater on the Quickfire Judges: "I LOVED these judges. They had more swag than any other judge on the show, they were hilarious, happy, impressed by everything. It was like feeding homeless Oprahs, just delightful people trying to start book clubs. At one point they said that Tracy’s dish was reminiscent of the tropics and told Curt Stone to take his shirt off. Take notes Restaurant Girl, that’s game, he was up in the range man..."


Posted on AllTopChef.com