Thursday, August 2, 2012

Top Chef Masters 4.2 Recap

This week, the Mastercheftestants managed to avoid competing in a Quickfire and were instead thrust directly into the Elimination.Challenge. Jay and Christine encountered many problems with planning their wedding, from the death of the maid of honor to venues cancelling. So they turned to the Masters to make their big day perfect - in only 24 hours.

The chefs are required to serve passed hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail reception, then go on to a multi-course dinner followed by cake. Art Smith volunteered to make the cake after name-dropping all of the many celebrities he's baked for, including Lady Gaga and Oprah. (yawn) He makes a pineapple upside-down cake, which seems really ill-advised, since the tops are uneven and how do you balance layers on that? And of course the cake slipped and slid and despite being patched together like Humpty Dumpty, still earned Art a spot in the bottom three.

But first - the top. The adorable Takahashi prepared "pork berry" sliders on steamed buns and earned raves from guests and judges. Chris Cosentino once again showed off his immense talent by making a pork adobo that even the picky Filipino family members found "pretty damn good." But the win went to Patricia Yeo, who served a ceramic spoon chock full of pickled mackerel ceviche with young coconut.

Ok, back to the bottom. Besides Art, Mark Gaier didn't do so well with his dish of raw salmon. It wasn't supposed to be raw, but the judges somehow ended up with sashimi (the bride and groom had perfectly-cooked fish). And Debbie Gold made a weird salad of grilled napa cabbage when she couldn't find the ingredients for her original idea - a more traditional Southeast Asian green papaya salad. It seemed to be a real toss-up between the three, but in the end, Debbie was asked to pack her knives and go.

So what did you think about the wedding and its various successes and near-fiascos? Please tell us in the comments.

Posted on AllTopChef.com

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