Padma dramatically introduced the Quickfire Challenge this week,with guest judge Alfred Portale at her side,by revealing the huge fish tank filled with crayfish,conch and other shelled seafood for the chefs to scoop out as much as they could in thirty seconds to cook for a half hour. Hung went first and made everyone nervous with his zealous attempts to scrape up as many as he could. He even dropped a crayfish on the floor and didn't bother to pick it up. Not cool,dude.
Brian wound up winning the challenge and then we got a look at a display of several different "Family Favorite" classic dishes,for the chefs to select to remake in a more modern and low cholestrol way to serve at the local Elk's club. Hung went last(Padma announced that everyone would go in reverse order from the QF) and got fried chicken. Other choices included fish sticks and tater tots,tuna casserole,chicken ala king and my personal favorite,meatloaf with mashed potatoes.
Brian's immunity didn't keep him from being called to the carpet,along with four other of his fellow chefs,due to his idea of reinterpreting traditional stuffed cabbage by making it with lobster,which is high in fat. Uh,you did hear the part about making your dish LOW in chorlestrol,right,buddy? He was let off with a scolding but the others who had to face the judges' ire included Lia,whose version of franks and beans used chicken sausage(that she bought pre-made) and lentil that were undercooked,and Sara M.'s chicken ala king that looked more like shish kebob.
I'm going to have go on a mini meatloaf rant,with Micah's terrible version of it being voted the least favorite by the Elks club diners and the judges as well. Micah's first mistake was in using lean ground sirloin;I've cooked with lean sirloin and while it is meaty,it does tend to dry out. She should have used ground turkey instead,like Joey did for his lasagna.
She was also very condescending towards the dish-when she first selected it,her aside comment was "anything I do would be an improvement" and when she served it up,Micah made a catty comment about how she had to make a sauce for her meatloaf"since Americans are so into ketchup!"(Micah is from South Africa). If you don't like the dish,why choose it in the first place? Also,many people prefer tomato sauce or gravy(which renders it salisbury steak,in my opinion) to ketchup on their meatloaf. And contary to Micah's opinion,meatloaf is not just a "hunk of ground beef"-it's what you put into the meat that makes it sing. I've made tasty low sodium versions of meatloaf and my mother's made meatloaf with peppers that was excellant and I don't even like peppers as a rule! No surprise that Micah was sent packing after her misery of a meatloaf meal.
On a more positive note,Howie finally proved his cooking skills were worthy as he won for his take on porkchops and applesauce. He served up lean and tender slices of pork with an apple fennel salad. Smart move to have some crunch compliment the juiciness of the meat. He did well in the Quickfire,too and hopefully there will be no more tensions with Joey but,hey,half the fun here is the personality flare-ups.
Speaking of flare-ups,things are still hot and bothered in Hell's Kitchen as the Red Team won the blind taste test challenge(despite Melissa's thinking that hard boiled egg yolk tastes like potato) and the fellas having to eat offal meats for lunch as well as prep both kitchens for dinner service. There was some slight drama with Julia in the kitchen as she needed time to cook the scallops after overdoing her first batch and Melissa trying to rush her along. Ramsey called her out on her game:
Bonnie was a total mess and is seriously lacking in one of the most important elements about cooking,which is timing. She took longer than she should have to get the chicken ready and the beef wellingtons were done so early that they were dried out. She's such a whiner as well,which makes it easier for me to root for her departure:
The guys weren't much better,as Vinnie racked up a huge amount of messed up meat and was personally picked by Ramsey as someone who should go,along with Bonnie. Vinnie got arrogant with Ramsey during the elimination and was dismissed for his troubles. Bonnie really needs to go next,she's an airhead supreme. Note to Rock;that whole talking about yourself in the third person thing-"The only threat to the Rock is Rock."-is getting creepy and old. Also,if you start doing the People's Eyebrow,there's a certain WWE superstar/movie star who might show up to lay the smackdown on your candy ass there. Just saying!
The Starter Wife wraps up it's mini series tonight,with Molly having to choose between hooking up with studio exec Lou or handsomely homeless Sam. Whoever she picks is fine by me. This show has been a real blast and I hope that this cast gets a chance to either make SW a returning series or atleast do a sequel of some sorts.
Here's a few highlights that should give you an idea of what you've missing or why you will miss The Starter Wife on a weekly basis:
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD
MEET THE GANG
CRICKET BUSTS UP THE PARTY
AH,SWEET REVENGE!
Random Notes
The 4400: Hey,raise your hand if you caught on that Kyle's new ladyfriend wasn't a real person before he did-whoa,talk about a forest of hands there! Glad to see Diana back in action(I prefer subtitles to dubbing myself when watching foreign films) and hopefully Tom does not have to go to extremes just to see Alaina again. Also,is anyone buying that Isabelle is totally powerless? My spider sense is tingling on that one;after all,if Shawn could snap out of a coma after a shot of Promicin,who's to say that it is really lethal to her? Perhaps that's what they want her to think!
Rescue Me: I so did not see the Chief eating a bullet at the end of last night's show coming. Whoa. Then again,he did seem to be putting his affairs in order,so to speak and luckily for Tommy. Tommy's daughter is quite the little bitch. I know that if my rocker boyfriend beat up my dad,I'd be pretty mad at him,not yelling at my father"He has a gig tonight!" I know Tommy threw the fight,but still. To cheer us up,let's look at one of funniest scenes this season so far:
Rock fancies himself much better than he actually is. He's also shown his ass twice by calling someone to the mat for personal reasons. Not good.
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