Top Chef - Season 5-
"Season Finale --- Part 2"

We are back down in New Orleans. Carla has been riding a hot streak recently, but can she keep it going? Stefan has been the favorite since the beginning and he has known it. Will his cockiness get in the way of winning? Hosea has been a roller coaster. At times he has looked like a top contender and then he has looked like he belongs solidly in the middle of the pack. He must be considered the underdog of the three.

The three chefs are greeted with a knife block after breakfast. The final challenge will be to create a three course meal. Deserts are optional. That means no one should make one! They are deathtraps on Top Chef! They will be serving 12 judges. They will be given assistant chefs.
It is runner ups from seasons past: Richard (season 4), Casey (season 3) and Marcel (season 2). Marcel has a sweet blowout and sunglasses. Looks like he is still a douchebag. This is what the knife block is for, the order in which they can pick an assistant chef.

The have two hour prep today.

Hosea is planning strong flavors. He is planning a raw fish first course, a scallop/foie gras dish for second course and a game for the third dish. Richard is an excellent chef and probably should have won his season. Hosea should leverage him.

Carla is looking for big flavors. She wants to do a version of boulebase and a beef comfort food. Casey is also a chef that probably should've won but she really screwed up her final challenge. She is also a very attractive woman, always a plus.
Casey wants to sous vide (cook in an air tight bag in warm water) the beef. Carla has never done this before. It is a risk.

The chefs are greeted by Tom and a basket of crazy ingredients. He tells them they need to include an additional appetizer from either crab, red fish or alligator.
Hosea wins the right to choose a protein and also the right to assign the other proteins. He chooses red fish for himself. He gives the crab to Carla and the alligator to Stefan.

The chefs now have 3 hours to cook their meals.

Hosea is cooking a trio of Sashimi which is followed by scallops & foie gras with pain perdu. The last dish will be venison loin with wild mushrooms. Hosea is serving his special ingredient red fish onto of a corncake.

Stefan is starting with a halibut & salmon carpaccio. His second course is squab with braised red cabbage & schupfnuden. Stefan does decide to end with a desert and will be making ice cream & chocolate mousse with vanilla syrup & lollipops. I can't believe he is doing a dessert. This almost always backfires on the chefs.
With his special ingredient appetizer he will be doing an alligator soup.

Carla is serving a seared snapper with safron aidli & crouton to start. She is following that with sous-vide new york strip steak, potato rod with merlot sauce. Like Stefan, she is serving a desert as the last course with a cheese tart with apple coins and marmalade. Casey suggest changing the tart into a blue cheese souffle. She plans on doing an asian flavored crab for her special ingredient crab.

The special ingredient appetizers

Hosea's red fish on corncake with creole remoulade appetizer is well received by the judges.
Stefan's alligator soup with celeriac and parsley is similarly well received by the judges.
Carla is serving shiso soup with blue crab and chayote thai salsa. Once again it the judges like it.

So far no one has blown it.

First Course

Stefan presents his smoked salmon & halibut carpaccio with micro greens, citrus vinaigrett & caviar.
Carla serves red snapper over saffron aioli, braised fennel and grilled clam.
Hosea has a trio of raw fish: tuna, hamachi and black bass.

The judges liked Carla's dish. Hosea's dish was lacking pop. Stefan's dish seems to have been a bit lacking. Looks like Carla's dish was a clear winner in this round.

Second Course

Stefans 2nd dish is a pan seared squab with braised cabbage, foie gra & grape jus.
Carla serves up a sous-vide strip steak with seared potato and merlot sauce.
Hosea presents a seared scallop with foie gras.

The judges immediately start complaining about the toughness of Carla's steak. Looks like Casey's suggestion might have backfired. It took away from the "soul" as one judge said.
Stefan's squab was cooked real well.
Hosea's dish is well cooked and well recieved.
Not sure who did the best between Stefan and Hosea but I know Carla probably gave back her lead from the first round.

Third Course

Carla has a disaster with her souffles. She forgot to turn down her oven. She decides she can not server them and is pretty much presenting half a dish.
Stefan is serving his ice cream, mousse, and banana lollipop.
Carla only able to serve what remains of her dish, the apple tart coin with bleu cheese and walnut crumble.
Hosea serves his venison with chestnut & celery root puree with wild mushrooms.

The judges are of course upset that Carla's dish was incomplete.
Seems like Stefan's dessert was not up to snuff.
Hosea's third dish seems like it was very good.
One judge does call out Hosea for taking an easier way out by not attempting a desert.

Judge's Table

To be honest I think this is wide open. Carla's desert bombing probably killed her chances but I'm still not sure on it. I think only Carla winning would surprise me because of the dessert problem.

Carla takes some hits from having Casey influence her a little too much with the steak and the souffle.

Hosea's 2nd dish was very complimented. He does get a little grief for not doing the dessert.

Stefan's squab was probably his best dish, if not the best dish of the night. I don't think the judges thought it was a good enough dessert to put an exclamation on the meal.

When the chefs leave Padma notes that Carla is out of the running. It is too bad. She serves a complete dessert she might be the winner. She is at least in the conversation. Stefan's dessert was pedestrian and probably hurt him. However Hosea is almost getting penalized for not doing the dessert.

The newest Top Chef - Hosea

Well Hosea is named Top Chef over Stefan. A little surprising but Stefan's food was almost robotic. Made with precision and skill but lacking a little of "soul". I just wish one of these times we would have a finale without one of the chefs making a mistake and virtually eliminating themselves.

Labels: Television, Top Chef

- posted by Doug @ 1:09:00 AM