S16.E02: Bourbon, Barrels and Burgoo

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

A pregnant Gail Simmons asks the chefs to feed her cravings; the chefs head to Makers Mark, the oldest U.S. distillery, to put their spins on a meal full of Kentucky classics, including burgoo, Benedictine, mutton, hoe cakes, and dumplings.

Air date: December 13, 2018

[jaybird2]

officially i do not like the chef who sacrificed the whole team for his lamb.

[Bastet]

What a weird QF; just have Gail do the video intro and Padma and her friend judge rather than doing the bizarre “fly the ingredients up, cook them, and tell you tomorrow” storyline.  Gail is deciding immunity based on food she cooked – it takes the details of how each chef executed their dish out of the equation.  But the asshole didn’t win, so I’ll take it.

Padma apologizing for making the new mom cry was nice, because that was a rude question to ask, and I think, especially as a mom herself, she realized it – just too late.

I love Maker’s Mark (in fact, I’m having a glass right now), so I enjoyed seeing the distillery, especially them learning how to put that wax on the lid.  The food was not my style at all, but it was nice seeing how into trying it everyone was.  In general, the cheftestants’ twists on the dishes sound better to me.  But, even though the originals aren’t my thing, I’m not an asshole about the entirety of southern cuisine like the, well, asshole is.

I understand the pressure on the hometown chef, but I love the way her teammate shut her down – okay, you can do everything, so pick which one of those you want to do, and then we move on.

Cooking when it’s 91 degrees and 97% humidity sounds like hell to me.  Add in all the ingredient stress, and I’d have been extra cranky on the black team.  I laughed out loud at how tiny the lamb dish that ate up more than $500 of the budget was.  Their dessert was one of the things I liked most in theory, so the execution was disappointing to see, especially because I like the chef who made it.  She should have been less a “team player” and more a “um, LEMON curd, and I already put lemons back at the store; all that remain are mine.”  It’s funny that Eddie is now one of the only names I can put with a face, since his blowing the budget earned him the nickname Eddie Money (and now I have Take Me Home Tonight in my head).

I’m biased by the asshole being the one person I cannot stand, but I wanted him to go home because his failures weren’t affected by the budget/ingredient mess; they were his.  Other than possibly seasoning, so where the other guy's - he made a dish that couldn't be done properly in that amount of time.  Natalie (I learn a name just in time to say good-bye) screwed up the crust by not accounting for the heat, but the "it's not lemon-y enough" was because she didn't have enough lemons.  I'm bummed, because I'd have liked to see a few more offerings from her - winner last week, bottom this week really makes me want to see what she'd even out to over several challenges - and I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing the asshole.

I’m constantly on about oversized portions in America, but the red team’s dishes were so small in the single-serving plates for camera!  Good thing it was served family style.  Padma’s face when Tom was underplaying the problems with the chicken & dumpling dish was fabulous.  There was no question they were the winning team.  I’m glad Nini (another name!) won, based on her food and how she handled the hometown chef during the planning stage.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Bastet

[Nordly Beaumont]

"When life gives you lemons... ask for more." Love it!

I'm kind of glad Natalie went, because the crust issue wasn't something more money would have helped. Yeah, she could have used more lemons, but she didn't go solely on a budget issue.

[susannot]

Wow, Natalie who won the first challenge.  I guess it was kind of fair because her pie crust was not dependent in any way on Eddie Money's extravagant lamb dish.

I am also happy that the Ghanaian (Sp?) chef's banana dish was well-liked by the judges because I found it very interesting.

[avecsans]

I get that they have to pay the bills, but the product placement for the bourbon was egregious.

When Eddie got to the checkout and saw how much the lamb cost, could he not have replaced it with another meat?  He bugged me because he knew right then that he was kneecapping his teammates. Instead of fixing it he chose to look like a sad sack and apologize constantly, but he still got to hog a third of their budget. Jerk.

I felt bad for Natalie but I don’t know how she thought that dessert would work in that heat and humidity.

The quickfire made me realize how much I will miss Gail this season.

[breezy424]

Eddie should have gone home.  He screwed everyone with his lamb purchase and put extra pressure on his whole team to make due. 

If Natalie had the lemons she needed, maybe she could have handle the crust situation better.

Sorry Eddie but you're most least favorite.  It was a 'team' challenge.

[betha]

Brandon should have gone home. Every single thing was wrong on his plate and they called his biscuit, what, abominable? I couldn’t understand the judges’ decision at all on this one. Did they know they would be cooking outside in 91 degree heat? How does one heat-proof crust, anyway? I felt so bad for Natalie. Being nice always backfires. 

re: lambgate. Would there have been time for him to go get another meat, weren’t they at time? I think that may be against the rules. But it does seem that they didn’t choose strategically what should be put back. 

I wish they would have shown how much the other team’s lamb cost. Didn’t they also do rack of lamb? How come it wasn’t an issue for them?

agree with above re: Nini dealing with Kentucky chef. Team Nini!!

Edited December 14, 2018 by betha

[Bastet]

56 minutes ago, avecsans said:

When Eddie got to the checkout and saw how much the lamb cost, could he not have replaced it with another meat?

Did he have the butchers do something to it?  He was checking in on whether it was ready, so maybe that was just packaging it, but maybe it was something that meant he couldn't go back to the meat counter and exchange it because they couldn't just put the lamb back in the case.  But even that assumes there was time to get from the meat counter and stand in the check-out line with something new; by the time he saw the total on the screen versus the bad math estimate he'd come up with in his head, there wasn't, so I don't think another meat was an option, period.

[Thumper]

I missed the intro; who is the Replacement Gail?  I miss Gail.

[Brookside]

New most wonderful food adjective - "haunting".

[biakbiak]

Kelsey was one of the rare people who used the phrase “I don’t mean to be racist” and then followed it up with a comment that wasn’t actually racist.

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Did he have the butchers do something to it? 

He actually saved them some work the already prepared racks were frenched and  on the ones not in the case they didn’t do that on. That said even if butchers do something for you at WF you can still not buy it.

[Vermicious Knid]

Liked they didn't find out who had immunity until after the elimination challenge was served. Too many chefs in the past ended up coasting or making a terrible dish because it didn't matter.

The price of the lamb had to be shown. He couldn't have estimated the cost before he got to the register?

Edited December 14, 2018 by Vermicious Knid

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, Vermicious Knid said:

couldn't have estimated the cost before he got to the register?

He mentioned that he had tried to do a rough estimate as they showed him putting things in the cart. I think he realized a few things 1. It was going to be a lot more than he thought 2. It was too late for him to rethink his dish 3. If he waited until checkout the team would have no choice.

[GaT]

The black team was stupid for letting Eddie use up a third of their budget. When they saw how much the lamb cost they should have said no instead of trying to play "team player"about it.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

I can go the rest of my life without hearing "peanut butter mayonnaise" ever again.  

I cracked up when Jersey chef (David?) lamented about Elizabeth not being known for it's green veggies.  Dude, NJ is literally The Garden State.  And why do I think they'll have a future challenge using what grows in their respective gardens?  I hope they all have green thumbs.

Eddie.  I was actually liking you and hoping that you'd loosen up some - - you seem to be wound way too tight.  Then you pulled that lamb nonsense and contributed to sending my favorite home.  If they were putting back spices and lemons, he damn sure should've taken 1 or 2 packages of the lamb off the bill. It was home style for goodness sake---you weren't trying to make 50 plates.  

I think Nini might be my new fav chef.

And finally, I fully intend to add, "Not today, Devil!!!” to my repertoire of choice phrases when things are going off the rails.

[biakbiak]

18 minutes ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

t Elizabeth not being known for it's green veggies.  Dude, NJ is literally The Garden State.

Well yes but he specified Elizabeth which is mostly known for processing petroleum, it’s port and Newark airport. 

[bobbobbob199]

I think Tom quite likes Brandon. Brandon's dish looked quite good, presumably it tasted really bad? He wasn't as cocky in this episode, at least in person with the other chefs, though his interview cuts might have been (these are highly edited, remember)

Nini really grew on me this week. Last week she seemed like someone who didn't contribute much to the team and cooked a very basic dish but this week she was a lot more helpful, cooked a better looking dish, and had some personality. She (and David to a lesser extent) seem a little childish, though. I guess in a good way...seeing the promo from the next challenge, I don't see how a professional chef can say "I'm going to murder you if you touch my bowl! " LOL

Eddie is a mess, the kind of edit he is getting is also not good. Usually chef's lighten up after a few episodes, I hope he does because I can't watch his nervousness any longer.

I predicted Natalie would go soon, even after her win last week. Chef's who are not (or who don't act) very confident never last long. I didn't taste any of the dishes but by look and concept hers was by far the worse. You are never supposed to literally make a lemon pie, it should be innovated in some way.

Kelsey's one of my favorites. Not necessarily as a chef but she seems to be a really cool person to be around. Padma hugging her was an interesting moment, that's for sure.

Edited December 14, 2018 by bobbobbob199

[timeywimey]

Instead of staring sheepishly into space in the check out line, Eddie Money should have been making calculations about how many racks of lamb he could put back and serve slices of lamb instead!

Edited December 14, 2018 by timeywimey

[CrazyInAlabama]

There must have been some way to still serve lamb, but not spend one-third of the budget.      Brandon's lucky that Natalie underbaked her crust.      My prediction is if Brandon does anything bad next week, then he's gone.      The judges do seem to keep track of who has screwed up and almost gone home, and I'm sure he's on the radar.    His dish sounded awful. 

I can't believe Eddie screwed his entire team like that.    Feeling bad is not the same as trying to fix it.    

[Ohiopirate02]

I get the feeling that if Eddie would have put one of the rack of lamb back then the black team would have had enough money for the extra lemons and spices needed.  I was disappointed that he did not say anything at Judges Table about sending him home since he handicapped his teammates (unless the Bravo editing monkeys left that out).   

I was also disappointed that the challenge was set up with a white judge introducing the chefs including African American chefs to the regional cuisine.  The vast majority of the dishes are directly linked to African dishes the slaves brought over.  When the guest judge was explaining the name for hoecakes while using the polite euphemism of "they,"  I got upset.  I was pleasantly surprised that Bravo did keep in Eric talking about when he first had his dish in Ghana.  What really frustrates me about this is I know that Padma has read Michael Twitty's The Cooking Gene.  She posted a picture on Twitter of her reading it well before this season started filming.  I hope this is the last challenge where the producers want to pretend that Kentucky was not a slave state.  I don't know if I can watch anymore like this.

[oldCJ]

3 hours ago, bobbobbob199 said:

I predicted Natalie would go soon, even after her win last week. Chef's who are not (or who don't act) very confident never last long. I didn't taste any of the dishes but by look and concept hers was by far the worse. You are never supposed to literally make a lemon pie, it should be innovated in some way.

Both she and the chef eliminated last week don’t make being a chef their life, which makes me wonder why they thought Top Chef was a good choice for them. Natalie kept repeating how she hasn’t worked as a chef for ten months. Why would you think you were ready for this? And last week’s chef kept bragging about spending so much time with her family. 

Also why go for Meyer lemons? Meyer lemons are not only far more expensive, they aren’t “lemony” no matter how many you use. 

How did Eddie not figure out his lamb was too expensive before ordering it. They were cooking for 48 people. You figure out how much one chop costs and do the math. It shouldn’t have been a shock at the register that you spent over ten dollars a person on meat alone. 

[fountain]

I really like Nini, I hope she goes far. She was able to do a good job at her own dish but also be a real team player. I loved when she so easily said, with no attitude or sarcasm at all, something like  “you can make everything, what do you want to make”.

I think they should have just told the lamb guy that he gets half and can work around that. He didn’t have to change his dish really but everyone else had to adjust so much, which isn’t fair. It is early in this so other chefs didn’t want to rock the boat yet. If their team was only 4 people  the others would have probably said no.

I think Natalie’s failure was the crust mainly so she probably would have gone even with the extra lemon but I think the lack of ingredients shook her confidence the most.

[dleighg]

The Kentucky chef was incredibly annoying during the deciding of "who does what." Oh I make a really good version of that. Oh I can do that. Oh I'd do that one this way. Pick one, lady.

I also thought it was really weird fo fly the ingredients up to Gail. Don't chefs taste as they go? I doubt that even if they tried they could exactly replicate the amounts, timings, and techniques in a written recipe.

[rafibomb]

Wow, so that's how you spell burgoo? Talk about unappealing. I think in my head I was spelling it as bergoux. 

Most hilarious moment of the episode: when Eddie said he came on Top Chef to improve his self-esteem. 

[Empress1]

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love Maker’s Mark (in fact, I’m having a glass right now), so I enjoyed seeing the distillery, especially them learning how to put that wax on the lid. 

Me too (well, not having any right now, but I do love it). I would have loved that trip.

Natalie was so mad about her lemons and when she kept talking about being a team player I knew she was doomed. I kept thinking "SPEAK UP. Say you need the fucking lemons!" And when the one said he didn't have spices for his burgoo I was thinking "No SPICES?"

10 hours ago, susannot said:

I am also happy that the Ghanaian (Sp?) chef's banana dish was well-liked by the judges because I found it very interesting.

He's my favorite at the moment. "NOT TODAY SATAN."

[jmcd44]

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love Maker’s Mark (in fact, I’m having a glass right now), so I enjoyed seeing the distillery, especially them learning how to put that wax on the lid.  The food was not my style at all, but it was nice seeing how into trying it everyone was.  In general, the cheftestants’ twists on the dishes sound better to me.  But, even though the originals aren’t my thing, I’m not an asshole about the entirety of southern cuisine like the, well, asshole is.

You should go visit if you get a chance-you too can dip your own bottle-just with WAY more safety equipment (goggles, gloves, apron)-and not free (and in the gift shop-I know I'm selling it).  I opened the 46 I dipped so quickly on the tour shuttle after that the top had my thumb print in it.

That heat looked miserable.  I liked that it panned around to all the judges and they all looked sweaty too, except Nilou, who looked absolutely perfect.  Since I have the Kentucky chef's coloring, I look just like her when I'm hot and sweaty.  

I really liked Nini this week and I enjoyed the groups helping each other.  I prefer people getting along, lamb chef excluded.

[Mambo Queen]

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

What a weird QF; just have Gail do the video intro and Padma and her friend judge rather than doing the bizarre “fly the ingredients up, cook them, and tell you tomorrow” storyline.  Gail is deciding immunity based on food she cooked – it takes the details of how each chef executed their dish out of the equation.  But the asshole didn’t win, so I’ll take it.

 

 

I would bet a lot of money that the reason for that was that Top Chef will soon be hopping on the Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, meal kit delivery service bandwagon.

[laprin]

13 hours ago, jaybird2 said:

officially i do not like the chef who sacrificed the whole team for his lamb.

Eddie did not overspend intentionally and the team could have decided he had to make a sacrifice and did not. They bare some of the blame. Besides, ultimately the reasons given for the losing dishes were as much about poor technique (greasy and under seasoned stew, under cooked dough) as lacking anything due to missing ingredients. Both Justin and Eric were able to make strong dishes in spite of missing ingredients. They made it work. 

Eddie is why I prefer an arrogant chef over one that lacks confidence. He's so dour and instead of wallowing in this "soul crushing" moment, he should have applied some perspective. Yes, Natalie's dish lacked acid, but she was sent home because the dough was undercooked. I also wonder why she did not enhance her flavor with good old lemon juice. It is cheap and concentrated - works well in a pinch.   

Edited December 14, 2018 by laprin

[staphdude]

Unless Eddie is dumb as a rock he should known he was spending a third of the budget (math is your friend!). So this woe is me, vacuous stare is even more grating. Of course the judges play into this farce by getting the scoop on the situation then prefacing their comments with “.....extra ingredients wouldn’t have helped this.” Wellllllllll maybe that is true and maybe it isn’t but the only sure thing is one of the 7(?) teammates took WAY more than their fair share of the budget ensuring they were comfortable with what they had to work with.

[Passing Strange]

It irks me that people on these shows think being a team player means going along to get along. We keep seeing that fail. Being a team player is doing things for the good of the team rather than the individual, whether that means speaking up if you might get stuck with a dish you can't do well or suggesting the guy hogging the budget put some of his stuff back.

I've been happy that most people on these shows have stopped using "unctuous" wrong. Now they're misusing "toothsome." The hits just keep on coming.

[Token]

They're overusing "forward" too and it drives me nuts.  Natalie actually said that her dish could have been more "lemon forward".  A few people used it during the episode and it is so annoying.

[cameron]

Did anyone catch the additional person overseeing the black team's food preparation.  Wore short sleeve chef's jacket and no apron.  Didn't see an extra person doing the same thing with the winning red team.  Just wondering about this.

[luvapickle]

I know some of you are wondering why let Eddie spend that much. Except the meat would take up a great amount of their budget to begin with. Giving up lemons made no difference in executing a dish. Both Natalie & Brandon did not execute their dishes. Eddie told them his meat would end up being more expensive at checkout. Because of editing we don't know what everyone else was getting except they gave up lemons & spices. Someone mentioned Plugra butter, but was that given up(the stuff costs at least twice as much)?  And knowing the heat, & being a pro baker, the lemon tart was not a good choice to do. I still feel Brandon should have gone home since they did not like his execution, & it had no taste. Natalie's didn't have execution either, but her "taste" was not bad, just not as lemony. One point, the judges mentioned it all lacked salt. That too is inexpensive, did they not have that?

[Totale]

1 hour ago, Token said:

They're overusing "forward" too and it drives me nuts.  Natalie actually said that her dish could have been more "lemon forward".  A few people used it during the episode and it is so annoying.

I see your "forward" and raise you "That <foodstuff> was cooked perfect".  It would be perfectly easy to use their grammars.

Maybe it was edited out, but Brian didn't even get an evaluation at JT, like the rest of the crew.

I kind of liked the Slowfire challenge, maybe they should always withhold the winner's name until after the elimination round.

This was obviously the (named) Louisville Whole Foods, which is an hour away from Maker's Mark but I guess they got whatever dispute there was worked out.

It wouldn't have happened in this episode where Maker's was the sponsor, but I would have been amused by a blind taste test including MM, $100+ a bottle Pappy Van Winkle and something like $25 a handle Evan Williams Bonded.  I'd want to see Tom C take the test, too.

[HurricaneVal]

Has Top Chef always been "you can only use ingredients you selected or paid for, including staples like salt, flour, butter, sugar etc." or did they used to have a show pantry for staples?  Or does it change challenge by challenge?  That's two shows in a row now where the lack of a staple ingredient like flour or salt has been the downfall of a dish.  I just don't remember them having to buy salt before, that's all...  Next week they'll probably have to buy their own water to boil pasta in!

[CrazyInAlabama]

When they're in the home kitchen they have staples.     At least they have before.  

[NowVoyager]

Wayment.

Didn't the other team also serve a lamb dish without taking up a third of the budget? When Eddie Money's first choice cut was unavailable, was his only other option rack of lamb? The prices are clearly marked on each package. Don't tell me this fool couldn't add better than that while he was standing around impatiently waiting for the butcher to weigh & wrap the meat. Why wasn't he made to put a rack back, when his teammates were begging for lemons, oranges & spices? It hurt me to my core to watch him cut the meat off the bones & discard them. At least roast them off & make stock. 

 

6 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I know that Padma has read Michael Twitty's The Cooking Gene.  She posted a picture on Twitter of her reading it well before this season started filming.

Thank you for the tip! I didn't know they gave James Beard awards for books. I downloaded the free sample on my phone & can't put it down. 😊

[biakbiak]

I thought it was funny that after all the discussion on last weeks episode about whether or not it was WF Padma mentioned it was WF and didn’t try and disguise it.

[betha]

What is WF?

i didn’t like that they didn’t find out about immunity until later. The whole point of immunity (to me) is to see how it affects dynamics as they are cooking, and often the person with immunity takes a huge risk and ends up winning.

[TipseyGirl]

Wow Eddie. Dick move.

[dleighg]

5 minutes ago, betha said:

What is WF?

Whole Foods.

[laprin]

Next team challenge, I bet Eddie will have to make due with $50.

[rwgrab]

6 hours ago, Mambo Queen said:

I would bet a lot of money that the reason for that was that Top Chef will soon be hopping on the Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, meal kit delivery service bandwagon.

Yes!  This was my exact thought.  Maybe the service isn't ready to roll out yet, but their big plan was to have it coincide with this episode.  The branded boxes?  The little Top Chef stationary for the recipe?  It has to be a meal kit thing.

[dleighg]

6 minutes ago, rwgrab said:

Maybe the service isn't ready to roll out yet, but their big plan was to have it coincide with this episode.  The branded boxes?  The little Top Chef stationary for the recipe?  It has to be a meal kit thing.

Makes. So. Much. Sense.

Because otherwise it made no sense.

[biakbiak]

For what it’s worth TC does have a relationship with Blue Apron, the last few seasons the winner has created meals for them.

I wonder about the filming timeline for this episode because they made it seem like two days and I know it’s a fairly short flight between KY and NYC but that would be quite a tight schedule for Nilou to do the quickfire, fly to NYC, film the segment with Gail, and return in time for the challenge the next day at Maker’s Mark.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I didn't realize Meyer Lemons aren't the same taste as regular lemons (I'm obviously not much of a cook), so Natalie should have opted for regular lemons instead, so combined with the unbaked crust, she does sound like a good choice to go home.    However, I really think it should have been a double elimination, with Brandon going bye-bye also.  

Edited December 15, 2018 by CrazyInAlabama

[PamelaMaeSnap]

8 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

The vast majority of the dishes are directly linked to African dishes the slaves brought over. 

I can't remember exactly how they phrased it but it was something along the lines of moving between Louisiana and Kentucky, and I commented "and by 'moved' we mean 'sold.'"

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

idn't realize Meyer Lemons aren't the same taste as regular lemons (I'm obviously not much of a cook), so Natalie should have opted for regular lemons instead, so combined with the unbaked crust, s

While they aren’t the same they are still delicious and often used in desserts. 

[PamelaMaeSnap]

7 hours ago, dleighg said:

The Kentucky chef was incredibly annoying during the deciding of "who does what." Oh I make a really good version of that. Oh I can do that. Oh I'd do that one this way.

I was SO hoping she'd get the boot. She's officially my least favorite now, even ahead of Eddie Money, who was sad sack but not an asshole.