Top Chef week 6

Wherein we made we'll be making reservations for the following Saturday to eat at Home, the new kitchen for Richard Blais

According to their website, the menu won't be available until next Tuesday.

Richard and Stephanie are easily my two favorite and seem to be playing at a different level than the other chefs. The Pâté Melt Richard referred to was one of my favorite items on the brunch menu at Element. Along with the sous vide egg and the whipped yogurt with granola and the BLT with the giant slice of pork belly and the BBQ duck with the cole slaw sorbet. Oh hell, throw in everything else. One Sunday we were there with six people, including The Child, and I think we had everything on the menu.

Losing interest in Andrew and Mark and after this week would probably bump up Antonia and Dale to the 3 and 4 positions.

Ryan was an easy call and I expect either Spike or Nikki to be next.

Updated Chart

Let's assign some point values and see waht happens. Using my chart:

• top group = +1
  
• challenge winner = +2
  
• Bottom group = -1

Then I considered there should be a bigger penalty for being in the bottom group in the elimination round, so for that I gave them a -2.

Name	minus1	minus2
Andrew	2	0
Antonia	2	-1
Dale	4	3
Jennifer	3	2
Lisa	3	3
Mark	1	-2
Nikki	-2	-3
Richard	7	6
Spike	-4	-7
Stephanie	5	4

And this demonstrates...what...exactly...? As expected, Richard and Stephanie are at the head of the class, Spike and Nikki are riding the short bus, and there's a big hazy group in the middle. Dale is leading the middle of the pack and the safe play by Lisa and Jennifer has them nearby. Antonia is an interesting case. Her three top group finishes are canceled out by her three bottom group finishes. I'm not sure what this means other than maybe she cooks to the level of her teammates?

Play around with assigning any sort of value and I suspect the groups will remain pretty much the same with the only shifting coming in the middle group.

May 2006, Food and Arts, Six chefs rejoice in their menu victories and eulogize dishes vanquished by dim bulb diners.

Richard Blais executive chef ONE.midtown kitchen Atlanta
They loved it!: Pâté melt with mustard ice cream & liquid cornichon. “The inspiration for the name is ‘patty melt,’ and it sells. Make a classic country pâté of ground pork, veal, and pork fatback seasoned with allspice, cloves, and salt, using bread crumbs and eggs as a binder. Put mixture in a terrine and cook in a water bath. I make caramel out of Isomalt because it’s less sweet than sugar. Heat two parts Isomalt to one part water until it just starts to color; spread it out very thin on a Silpat nonstick pad, almost like cellophane; sprinkle with caraway seeds while still hot. For the mustard ice cream, make a custard of milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, a little sugar, and honey; once cool, fold in Dijon mustard; process in an ice cream maker. Run cornichons through a juicer; strain through a chinois; thicken liquid with xanthan gum. To serve, use a torch to melt a piece of the caramel over a slice of the pâté; transfer to a plate that has a stripe of cornichon liquid on it; place a quenelle of mustard ice cream off to the side; garnish with a thin, almost transparent slice of bread and a salad of arugula, peppercress, or watercress dressed with olive oil, salt, and pepper.”

What do they know?!: Arugula tartare with liquid goat cheese. “This one is really basic and the flavors are familiar so I’m surprised it didn’t sell that well. I think the word ‘tartare’ might have been misleading since people think it has to be a raw piece of meat. But it’s really just a chopped salad with goat cheese dressing. Wash and dry arugula and mince very finely; dress with salt, pepper, olive oil, and a couple drops of lemon juice. I use Laurel Chenel’s chèvre for the liquid goat cheese. Process the chèvre in a blender with milk until it’s a liquid; add gellan gum, which will make it gel enough to deep fry. Heat the liquid goat cheese to 140 degrees [to activate the gellan gum] until it gels; punch it out into squares; dredge in egg wash and panko. For pickup, deep fry goat cheese so it’s crispy on the outside but liquid in the middle. Place a ring mold of arugula salad on a plate; garnish with diced roasted beets; put the fried goat cheese off to the side.”