Reactions to Top Chef Seattle Episode Three

This week, the cheftestants competed in two completely unrelated challenges. For the Quickfire, they had one hour to make a dumpling native to a particular country. There were momos, manto, pierogies, and more. Chefs unfamiliar with the dumpling they got stuck with could use an Amazon Kindle Fire to do research, but after that, they had to wing it. Josie's version of the Korean manto earned her the win, and immunity from elimination, which would serve her well in the next challenge, which was...

Thanksgiving.

Yes, they filmed the season in the summer, but there they were, cooking turkeys and stuffing. Tom Colicchio and Emeril Lagasse acted as mentors for two teams of chefs, each putting their own spin on the holiday. Tom's Red Team added an Italian flair to their dishes, while Emeril's Gray Team naturally went for the flavors of New Orleans, with a little Portuguese thrown in for good measure.

After a bit of time with the mentors, the chefs were left on their own to finish cooking at Fare Start, a company offering culinary training to struggling and homeless people. The meal was served to Emeril, Tom, Padma, Fare Start's Megan Karch, Food & Wine's Dana Cowin, and local chef (by way of France) Thierry Rautureau. After tasting both teams' dishes, Team Tom won by unanimous decision of Thierry, Megan, Dana, and Padma. They loved CJ's beautifully-basted turkey and Lizzie's half-butter, half-potato mash, but the win went to Carla Pellegrino for her carrot soup with meatballs.

There were lots of problematic dishes on the Gray Team's side, and Tom sorely wished he could send Josie home for her undercooked turkey, but she did have immunity. Instead, Kuniko was sent home for her undercooked potatoes. Surprising, since she had done so well in the competition last week.

What did you think about this week's episode? Please leave a comment.

Posted on AllTopChef.com