Top Chef Masters Episode 3: Nothing to Stick Your Tongue Out At

June 30, 2009 8:59 pm

Top Chef Masters Episode 3: Nothing to Stick Your Tongue Out At

Episode 3: Offal Tasty of Top Chef Masters was a lot to stomach—literally. For those trying to watch their weight, the only downfall to watching Top Chef is that it usually makes you crave food the whole hour of the show; however episode three of Top Chef Masters shockingly curbed my appetite when first hearing what was in store for these kings and queens of the kitchen. And mind you, royalty was far from the platter this time.

The Top Chef Kitchen of Los Angeles, showcased four polar opposite masters: a charming French competitor who lives to win, a sweet, but nervous wrecked cook who ignited flavor in Napa Valley, a Puerto Rican chef and restaurant owner, and a renown known master of Mexican Cuisine. After much experience of judging other chef's food, these experts finally learned what it's like to now be in the hot seat—or should I say, hot plate.

The Chefs:

Chef Cindy Pawlcyn – Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, Go Fish and Mustards Grill, Napa, CA

Chef Ludo Lefebvre – L' Orangerie and Bastide, Los Angeles, CA

Chef Wilo Benet – Pikayo, Payã and Varita, Puerto Rico

Chef Rick Bayless – Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Chicago, IL

Quick Fire Challenge:

"Butterflies anyone?" asked host Kelly Choi, as the masters seemed to look like amateurs in the Top Chef Kitchen. Their first task was to draw knives, one of each color. Whichever color knife the chef chose, was the color that had to be reflected on their dish. Simple right? Wrong. The chefs began to panic as the clock counted down the minutes—evidently not used to following a set of rules other than their own in the kitchen.

From "red forgotten tomatoes" to a "slow celebration in yellow," as some of the dishes were called, expert judges experienced a rainbow of flavor on their palette. The judges consisted of Chris Oliver, Joanne Cianculli and Christina Peters, all culinary authors, stylists and photographers of the food world. Although all four chefs did relatively well for such little time, Wilo's orange salmon tartare won over the judges' stomachs, receiving the highest score of the 4.5 stars.

Elimination challenge:

Wilo's dish may have pleased the judges' palates but little did the masters know there next task would have them winning over some hearts, tongues and ears as well. Gross much?

For the elimination challenge, the masters were required to create a street food dish served at Universal Studios They would need all culinary skills to convince the public to try something more adventurous than normal, much more adventurous. Once again, the chefs drew knives—this time for organs rather than colors. Wilo received beef hearts, Bayless got the tongue, Pawlcyn picked the stomach and Lefevbrea received one of the toughest of all—the pig's ears.

After 45 minutes of shopping at Whole Foods some tension was already brewing outside the kitchen. After both Rick Bayless and Luda Lefevbrea decided to serve their organs Mexican style (Luda through quesadillas and Rick through tacos), the Frenchy was determined to beat the Mexican cuisine superstar, convinced Bayless copied his idea.

Despite any "copy catting" or more so, "copy cooking," that may have occurred, both the diners of Universal and Top Chef Master judges, Gael Greene, James Oseland and Jay Rayner, seemed to prefer some tongue slippage after all. Bayless won the challenge with 22.5 stars, now able to donate $10,000 for his charity, Frontera Farms Foundation and moves on to the champion's ring. I guess our tongues have more uses than I thought.

Stay tuned weekly to Behind the Burner to read more about the experiences on Top Chef Masters.

—Joanna Weinstein