Top Chef Masters Episode 4: "Beating" the Competition with One Hand Behind Her Back

July 15, 2009 7:59 pm

Top Chef Masters Episode 4: "Beating" the Competition with One Hand Behind Her Back

$Behind the Burner: Top Chef Masters Episode 4: \$

After a week hiatus, the fourth episode of Top Chef Masters was "eggstraordinarily" magical. Silly choice of words I know, but true in a literal sense. Four more chefs have been brought to the Top Chef kitchen to prove that they are "top," but this time with one arm behind their back.

The Chefs

Anita Lo – Annisa Restaurant, New York
Mark Peel – Chef and Cookbook Author
John Besh – Besh Restaurant Group, New Orleans
Douglas Rodriguez – OLA Restaurant, Miami

Quick Fire Challenge

Mastering the cooking techniques of an egg may seem simple, but it is really quite difficult. This is why in most culinary schools there is one lesson dedicated to just that, cooking eggs. The Quick Fire Challenge for this week put the chefs to the test asking them to cook one egg dish but with one arm behind their back.

Considering Chef Peel's father was a chef himself and ironically had one arm, Peel showed the judges that he could not only cook an egg with one arm, but could roll pasta as well.

Chef Besh on the other hand (no pun intended) prepared what he called a "slow cooked egg." Basically an egg cooked, or uncooked in this matter was garnished with nothing but a greasy flavor.

The winner however was Chef Anita Lo who created a simple egg scramble with a truffle oil and shiitake mushroom twist all served in the shell of the egg. Her version of an upscale scrambled egg with a pretty presentation would win the hearts for anyone looking for an outstanding brunch table.

Elimination Challenge

This elimination challenge really had the chefs thinking outside of the box or the hat so to speak. Each was given the opportunity to pick a card, any card each containing one of four words: mystery, surprise, spectacle and illusion. With this word they were to prepare a dinner (with the usual $250 budget at Whole Foods) for the former Dr. Howser (as in Doogie), Neil Patrick Harris and his friends. Neil Patrick Harris has grown up and his palate has grown to "foodie" proportions.

Chef Peel (Mystery): has the bright and brilliant idea of cooking en papillote (cooking in a paper bag). The mystery is clearly, "what's in the bag?" Solution: a clean and simple presentation of a Thai snapper over garlic mashed potatoes. He did a pairing with a nice sake that won the judges over, but not enough.

Chef Besh (Surprise!): embraces the magic theme stating, "Food can be just as entertaining as magic," and this thought is reflected by his own magic show of sorts. He prepares a three part dish of salmon roe salad, tuna tartare, and tempura fried lobster. Topping the salad he uses Neil Patrick Harris as his assistant in creating a horseradish sorbet (with the use of liquid nitrogen). The judges rave over the presentation and the effort, but find the sorbet not so sorbet-y.

Chef Lo (Illusion): prepares a dish for the judges that is a trick to the eye. They believe they will be dining on a single scallop, but it's not even a scallop at all. Chef Anita manages to concoct the superb idea of stuffing a daikon radish with steak tartare, giving the diner the illusion of a scallop. Bravo Chef Lo, bravo!

Chef Rodriguez (Spectacle): presents a dish of duck four ways, and lights a portion of it on fire. The flames are quite a spectacle so to speak, but not spectacular enough. The judges enjoyed his variations of duck, but they didn't provide the number of stars that he needed to blow them out of the water.

Chef Anita Lo's culinary magic is the clear winner of episode four, allowing her to advance to the next round of Top Chef Masters. With only two more first round episodes to go, stay tuned to Behind the Burner for weekly recaps of Top Chef Masters.

—Hailee Moore