Can You Stand the Heat in the ‘Top Chef’ Kitchen?

Upping the stakes

A protein inside a protein inside a protein, like this turducken, is called a "ballotine."

This week’s “Top Chef: Las Vegas” really increased the intensity — and I, for one, ate it up. The five remaining chefs were clearly the best, the cream of the crop. Still, I thought the judges made the right decision at elimination time. Even though I was not surprised, I was prepared to be, thus leaving me on the edge of my seat from the moment Jen said “turducken” during the quickfire challenge.

The quickfire challenge, articulated by Bocuse d’Or vetran Gavin Kaysen, was to cook a protein inside a protein inside a protein, hence Jen’s turducken joke. The Bocuse d’Or is the yearly “food olympics” in France. A turducken is a duck stuffed inside a chicken, which is stuffed inside a turkey. I wonder if I’d need a small personal loan to afford all three of those.

Welcome back

Birds all over the world rejoiced when they discovered that Jen actually wanted to work with seafood, which she says is her specialty. She made calamari steak, shiso and salmon all rolled up like sushi. It was pretty and apparently pretty tasty. Padma said “welcome back” after she tasted Jen’s dish.

So why all this talk about Jen? She won the quickfire. I thought the most delicious sounding dish was Kevin’s bacon-encrusted fried catfish, but alas, the television that transmits flavor has not yet been invented. Ahem. Anyway, Jen won an extra 30 minutes to cook during the elimination challege, which was — not surprisingly — for the chefs to prepare a Bocuse d’Or style dish, presented on a giant mirrored platter and everything.

Stuck in the moment

Eli says in a video on Broadway’s web site that he “got a little caught up in the situation … and the magnitude of what was happening.” I think most of the chefs fell victim to the same thing. I can’t really blame them: The winner of this challenge was promised $30,000. Despite the fact that all five of these chefs have put forth great performances throughout the season, all of them had technical problems with their dishes, except Kevin, whose dish was simply deemed too simple.

Everyone undercooked their dishes, except Kevin, so Kevin won. Judges called his dish “elementary,” but he still came out on top. This mark’s Kevin’s fifth elimination challenge win. It was a tad disappointing to watch the judges analyze such mediocre performances this late in the game, but I guess we just have to chalk it up to nerves and move on.

Looking forward to next week

In the spirit of moving on, I can’t wait to see the four very best chefs, who also happen to be my personal favorites, compete next week. We know from the preview that for the quickfire, the contestants must prepare a dish on a train — on the way to a new, far away place!

Based on the fact that he has won more challenges than anyone, logic points to the fact that Kevin will come out the overall winner on “Top Chef: Las Vegas,” but we’ve been surprised before. Was I the only one who was shocked when Hosea won “Top Chef” last season? Who do you think will win this season?