S22.E09: Cooking on the Edge

[ProudMary]

Airdate: Thursday, May 8, 2025

Synopsis:

Kristen is joined by Tom, Gail and chef and professor Ilona Daniel as the chefs are tasked with flexing their culinary mussels. The chefs face their fears in this stunt-driven Elimination Challenge.

[marke34]

Goodbye Cesar, one of my picks for final 3 is gone, and now I have to actually choose whether or not to support Cesar, or

Spoiler

Katianna

my 2 finalist picks along with Tristen in LCK, this fucking sucks.  If I have to choose one, it would be Cesar, I really want his creativity to shine through to the finale, but I really don't want to choose.

Edited Friday at 02:30 AM by marke34

[Bastet]

I was glad Lana won the QF and hoped that would save her from elimination when her EC dish was poorly received, so I was glad to see Vinny and Cesar implode, knowing it would be one of them.  If not for the QF, I think it would have been Vinny, since they couldn't even eat his dish.  Had it not frozen, it might have been a contender, who knows.

It certainly met the brief.  I loved Bailey's reaction to the stunt on a plate challenge:  "I did not grow up wanting to be a superhero spy, I grew up wanting to be a chef, and I'd like to stay in that lane."  Every season they have a challenge like this, where I would have no idea what to do.  And not just because I've never seen a Mission Impossible, fundamentally that my mind doesn't work in a way that "your dish needs to be a stunt" makes sense.  But, really, given how few dishes did meet the brief, maybe they ought to give some greater thought to those type of challenges.

I wanted all the mussel dishes other than the one with beet juice (because I hate beets, not because I thought it was a terrible idea or anything).  Now I'm craving mussels.

I've walked a rope bridge with my knees shaking but no support (the only time heights have bothered me), so I could have done the walk, no problem, but I don't know about either of the leans.

 

[bosawks]

I’m still perplexed that Vinny’s dish was inedible but, yet, not the worst?

And I like Vinny!

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm afraid of heights, and I couldn't have gone on that edge for any amount of money.    I barely could watch any of it.   

[MerBearHou]

47 minutes ago, bosawks said:

I’m still perplexed that Vinny’s dish was inedible but, yet, not the worst?

And I like Vinny!

I like Vinny too but I think he was saved because he came up with a “mission” to get to the dessert which was clever and met the challenge request, and he did well in the QF which the judges made quite a point to say mattered in all decisions going forward.  Otherwise, he would be have been gone for sure.  

[Ancaster]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

 

It certainly met the brief.  I loved Bailey's reaction to the stunt on a plate challenge:  "I did not grow up wanting to be a superhero spy, I grew up wanting to be a chef, and I'd like to stay in that lane."  Every season they have a challenge like this, where I would have no idea what to do.  And not just because I've never seen a Mission Impossible, fundamentally that my mind doesn't work in a way that "your dish needs to be a stunt" makes sense.  But, really, given how few dishes did meet the brief, maybe they ought to give some greater thought to those type of challenges.

 

I hate the gimmick challenges (chaos, ice pick, etc) and this one was no different.  Just let them cook - this is not Worst Cooks where their schtick was (is? I haven't watched in years) doing things that made the chefs look ridiculous.

[marke34]

2 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

I hate the gimmick challenges (chaos, ice pick, etc) and this one was no different.  Just let them cook - this is not Worst Cooks where their schtick was (is? I haven't watched in years) doing things that made the chefs look ridiculous.

Yeah, this honestly feels more like a Hell's Kitchen style challenge than a top chef challenge, and that's not a good thing.

Edited Friday at 04:10 AM by marke34

[mlp]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm afraid of heights, and I couldn't have gone on that edge for any amount of money.    I barely could watch any of it. 

Me too!  Just watching it made me queasy.  I've been to the top of the CN Tower and they have one of those glass floors where you can look straight down.  The people I was with were out there enjoying the view and I had my back against the interior wall as far from the windows as I could get.  I was surprised that all the chefs went out there.  No amount of peer pressure would have made me do it.

I was happy to see Buddha.  His comments, positive and negative, are always specific which I appreciate.

 

[Ancaster]

On 5/8/2025 at 7:38 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm afraid of heights, and I couldn't have gone on that edge for any amount of money.    I barely could watch any of it.   

Right.  I like heights, but it's ludicrous that you gain an advantage in a cooking competition for doing something that has nothing to do with cooking and worse, plays on some people's very real phobias.  I can't abide Massimo, but he did gain my respect by overcoming his fear of heights.

Edited Saturday at 10:17 PM by Ancaster
Phobias not phobia's. Ugh!

[bravofan27]

Mission Impossible was a sponsor so they had to do the challenge around a Mission Impossible. The "stunt" aspect I thought was fun-- made them be creative. I thought maybe it was an avenue into a different market as well (as chefs) but when Tarzan said he wanted sparkles on the food, I thought, never mind.

Best line, from Tristen, "This is the quietest I've ever heard Massimo, and the peace is actually quite nice." LOL. I laughed at that. It was also super funny when he placed the timer on the chef's table and said, "You have 30 seconds to take the sauce, or... (suspense) it will get cold." Haha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dleighg]

I also didn't like them giving a (large) advantage to those who could do those leans. Fear is a very personal thing, and it doesn't prove anything about your worth as a chef if you can't do it.

As soon as Tom said for the mussels "no white wine and garlic" I was like, what else is there LOL.

I thought Bailey's looked clunky and messy, and I didn't think it looked like Tirimisu. What do I know.

At the end Tom said "a lot of these didn't really meet the challenge." Maybe 'cause it was a STUPID challenge.

[Lovecat]

It was a stupid challenge, unless your name is Buddha Lo...the minute he said that he always wanted to do a dish involving levitation, I yelled "Now THAT'S a stunt!!"  I was underwhelmed by the actual cheftestants' efforts.  Setting a plate of raw meat on a bed of dry ice?  Vinny.  C'mon, man.  You had to realize you were setting yourself up for a meatsicle.  Now if there were a second stage to it, like fire was introduced, turning the meatsicle into  tasty burger, THEN we're talking "stunt."  [And no, I have no idea how that would work :) ]

[dleighg]

1 hour ago, Lovecat said:

Setting a plate of raw meat on a bed of dry ice?  Vinny.  C'mon, man.

hasn't vinny done carpaccio before? It seems he's still leaning into his "classic" (i.e. not very inventive) background.

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

 

As soon as Tom said for the mussels "no white wine and garlic" I was like, what else is there LOL.

I thought Bailey's looked clunky and messy, and I didn't think it looked like Tirimisu. What do I know.

 

Lemon grass and coconut milk is also a classic.

Tiramisu should be vertical, not horizontal.  The lady fingers stand up.

[Tango64]

It still surprises me when chefs of this caliber make really dumb mistakes, like sending out frozen meat to the judges. The whole reason for using dry ice is that it gets super cold, so you didn't figure putting some thinly sliced raw meat on dry ice would freeze it? You didn't try it in the kitchen first to see how it would work?

[carrps]

58 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

Tiramisu should be vertical, not horizontal.  The lady fingers stand up.

I've had horizontal tiramisu before. A coupla times It's fine with me.

My sister has serious acrophobia, and this challenge hit all her nerves. She couldn't watch. I thought it was cruel. I also can't abide Massimo, but I felt for him.

[Msample]

Even when he wins, Massimo has resting bitch face. 

[Ancaster]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

hasn't vinny done carpaccio before? It seems he's still leaning into his "classic" (i.e. not very inventive) background.

For some reason he's rubbed me the wrong way since the beginning.  Maybe it's his Resting Smug Face?

[bravofan27]

25 minutes ago, Msample said:

Even when he wins, Massimo has resting bitch face. 

Massimo has a wrinkly grouchy face. I think that's why he smiles so much. 

[Pandora]

1 hour ago, carrps said:

My sister has serious acrophobia, and this challenge hit all her nerves. She couldn't watch. I thought it was cruel. I also can't abide Massimo, but I felt for him.

Yeah. I didn’t like the challenge either. And not because it wasn’t cooking related. I’m not totally opposed to them. It’s an entertainment show in the end. Random stuff can happen in the kitchen too, and it’s pack your knives, chef.

Having said that, scaring people for funny reactions is dicey. It’s like pranking. It can go bad. And a legit phobia of heights isn’t that uncommon in psychology terms, as far as I know.

I hope they at least presented it to the cheftestants AHEAD of time. Imagine being acrophobic when Kristen springs a ha-ha-funny heights challenge on camera. Not only are you terrified, who wants to spoil all the ha-ha fun? Or not even get in the elevator? Plus lose the advantage automatically?
 

I’m not phobic of heights and love roller coasters. But i felt sorry for Massimo and others who couldn’t complete a lean or something. Even though he laughed it off in his blustery way, he must have been damn scared to turn it down.

Edited Friday at 06:35 PM by Pandora
Repeating myself repeatedly.

[rhofmovalley]

Even attractions that claim to be super safe can have tragic accidents. My former coworker had to leave his wife behind in Costa Rica because she went zip lining and the worker at the other end of the zip line looked away when he was supposed to be catching her and she slammed into a tree, fracturing her skull, and she had to remain in the hospital until she was stable enough to travel back to the US.

I dislike silly tie-ins. But as was previously said, this is an entertainment program, although I am entertained by seeing delicious looking food and skilled cooks. 

Hoping to see Cesar again. 

Edited Friday at 07:11 PM by rhofmovalley

[Ancaster]

41 minutes ago, Pandora said:

I hope they at least presented it to the cheftestants AHEAD of time. Imagine being acrophobic when Kristen springs a ha-ha-funny heights challenge on camera. Not only are you terrified, who wants to spoil all the ha-ha fun? Or not even get in the elevator? Plus lose the advantage automatically?
 

Yes, it was mentioned that they had the choice to do it or not.

[Rammchick]

6 hours ago, dleighg said:

I thought Bailey's looked clunky and messy, and I didn't think it looked like Tirimisu. What do I know.

I thought it looked more like baklava than tiramisu, especially since she cut it into wedges, and tiramisu is usually served as a square.  Also, tiramisu doesn't have sauce on the top like her version did, it's cocoa powder.

Someone made the comment that they'd like to see what the chefs would've come up with if they'd been given more time.  Yes, exactly this.  This sort of stunt needs time to develop properly, so they can actually pull off something spectacular.  They have no time to even see if it would work.

Edited Friday at 07:35 PM by Rammchick

[Daisychain]

I don't even know where to start.  So many good comments, and neither the challenges nor the contestants filled me with joy.

I think I'm a grump too. I'm Bored!  What the heck.  I do not care about stunts on Top Chef. That's why I watched Top Gun Maverick with my children - no cooking!  Buddha was super-excited and for me he came across as attention-seeking.

This season has seemed boring to me, and this is my favorite show.  I hope that we have a good finale.  I wish there were more women in it.  Signed, Grumpy-chain.

[carrps]

I'm with you, @Daisychain.

I'm usually side-eyeing Buddha, as well. He's very talented, but he has a surfeit of self regard.

I also noticed only two women left when they were lined up for the quickfire. Made me sad.

 

[dleighg]

3 minutes ago, carrps said:

I also noticed only two women left when they were lined up for the quickfire. Made me sad.

meanwhile with the blind tasting on Tournament of Champions, women have COMPLETELY dominated year after year after year. Not saying that I have particular complaints about any particular loss here, but..... unconscious bias is very hard to eradicate. 

[jackjill89]

8 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Lemon grass and coconut milk is also a classic.

Tiramisu should be vertical, not horizontal.  The lady fingers stand up.

Huh. I've never had tiramisu with vertical ladyfingers. 

Quote

I thought it looked more like baklava than tiramisu, especially since she cut it into wedges, and tiramisu is usually served as a square.  Also, tiramisu doesn't have sauce on the top like her version did, it's cocoa powder.

Yes -- tiramisu is lighter and more airy looking. Hers looked dense. The wedges definitely threw off the look. 

[caitmcg]

35 minutes ago, jackjill89 said:

I've never had tiramisu with vertical ladyfingers. 

Neither have I. When I think of vertical ladyfingers, it's usually in the context of something like a charlotte. Once you dip ladyfingers in liquid to moisten them, they don't have a lot of integrity to stand up. Plus, isn't the point of tiramisù the layering of the mascarpone filling and lady fingers?

I agree that Bailey's dish didn't look much like tiramisù (aside from the fact that instead of parmesan crumbles to look like powdered sugar, she should have used something dark to look like cocoa). But based on the wedge-shaped serving and the crêpes, it looked most like, well, a crêpe cake, but there's no trick in that, especially given they're most often but not necessarily sweet.

[amarante]

FWIW authentic tiramisu is not made with American style ladyfingers but with ladyfingers that are significantly denser than American so that moistening them doesn't make them soft and collapsable 

I think watching Bailey's faux tiramisu even with HD probably didn't really provide a real picture since everyone at the table viewing it in person thought it really looked like a sweet dessert. 

[bravofan27]

I think the chefs were supposed to "mix" the ingredients of Lana's dish-- not eat the cornmeal stuff as a separate side. Take some fish, dip it in the sauce, and then the cornmeal and it tastes like fried fish. That was my takaway. But Lana was having problems with her coating from the get go.

The layered crepes was a really good idea. The chefs like foods that are integrated rather than mixed.

Vinny's "lasers" and the key was a little cheesy IMO. And then it all froze. He spent to much time on his lasers and key shape thing that no one thought was that cool anyway. Tom reached in and got the key and was like, "I have the key, now what?" It was sort of like that pick-up-sticks game, except the key was too easy to get. He could have had more "lasers" and chopsticks and made the judges get the key without touching the lasers (now I'm thinking Operation). 

Maybe a really hot soup or pho that they had to blow on until the temperature lowered and had little thermometers in them, until the temperature was whatever degrees they couldn't eat it, and the person that reached the right temp first was able to add the accompaniments. Or maybe even little heaters where each judge had to get their broth to a certain temperature before adding the meat, and then had to wait to the meat was a certain temperature before adding the hoisin or gochujang. 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, amarante said:

I think watching Bailey's faux tiramisu even with HD probably didn't really provide a real picture since everyone at the table viewing it in person thought it really looked like a sweet dessert. 

I didn't think it looked like tiramisu most of the time but there was one shot on the table where the light must have been just right that made me think it did look like a dessert instead of lasagna. So I think your take is correct.  TV didn't capture it.

[LBC Me]

This episode was a huge snoozer for me. And that guy’s name is Tarzan? Yeah, I don’t follow the Mission Impossible movies because I dislike Tom Cruise. And I’m sure Massimo is thrilled to get 2 tickets to the next MI movie (not).  Can’t stand Bailey’s vocal fry. That’s all for now. I clearly need a nap.

[dleighg]

7 hours ago, LBC Me said:

And I’m sure Massimo is thrilled to get 2 tickets to the next MI movie (not).

That was my thought, but then "Tarzan" said that he'd be sitting next to him. So I guess this is the "real" premiere with red carpet and paparazzi and all that. Probably includes a flight to Los Angelas (I assume).

[Thumper]

Yeah, having to go to the premier would be stressful for me!

I’m not a Tom Cruise fan either, so the whole MI theme would also have been stressful.  All chefs must be creative types, I guess!

 

 

[buttersister]

Vinnie can go next.  He’s fallen back on his repertoire. While Buddha had planned scores of dishes to make, based on his study of the show, his food was elevated and inventive. Vinnie’s is  less … exciting, original or thoughtful. See: Tristen.

[Ancaster]

16 hours ago, LBC Me said:

This episode was a huge snoozer for me. And that guy’s name is Tarzan? Yeah, I don’t follow the Mission Impossible movies because I dislike Tom Cruise. And I’m sure Massimo is thrilled to get 2 tickets to the next MI movie (not).  Can’t stand Bailey’s vocal fry. That’s all for now. I clearly need a nap.

Yeah, when the guy snuck in that Massimo would be sitting next to him, my thought, if I were Massimo, would have been, "Damn, that means I can't give the tickets away or just enjoy a free trip to LA and not bother showing up for the premiere of a movie I couldn't care less about directed by some guy who thinks it's okay to name himself Tarzan."

(I looked him up: he was originally simply Greg Davis, so he can't even blame his parents.)

[ZettaK]

I don't think there are enough interesting, or that talented chefs like in previous seasons, that's why Tristen will most probably win.

Spoiler

There is no competition. Katianna was eliminated.

 

[Norma Desmond]

I was happy to see Buddha, my favorite TC contestant ever. His critique of the dishes was great and he seemed to love Massimo as much as I do. I do feel though like the judges gave Massimo the win because they couldn't give it to Tristen yet again, he's really the frontrunner and it's kind of obvious he is going to be the winner. Like Buddha, he is miles ahead of everyone else.

Regarding Massimo’s dish, didn’t he initially say it was a salmon en croute, but then, when presenting it, he called it a trout en croute? Yet, it looked like salmon, not trout.

Edited Sunday at 05:10 AM by Norma Desmond

[dleighg]

5 hours ago, Norma Desmond said:

Yet, it looked like salmon, not trout.

Some trout looks just like salmon. (Ruby Red Trout)

[Norma Desmond]

16 hours ago, dleighg said:

Some trout looks just like salmon. (Ruby Red Trout)

Oh! I had no idea. Thanks!

 

But I could swear he initially said it was salmon.