Four chefs... One will
convert mystery ingredients into the taste of victory. The other three
will get the chop. Let's say hey to the players...
Pnina Peled
Manhattan, NY
chef de cuisine, New York Helmsley Hotel |
Lonnie Dyner
Brooklyn, NY
executive chef, La Petite Marche |
Susan Crocker
Montgomery, NY
chef/owner, Holberts Catering and Backyard Bistro |
Damien Brassel
New York City (orig. Ireland)
chef/owner, Knife + Fork |
You know the rules, and you know the lifelines. Let's
meet the judges...
- Bistro baron Marc Murphy
- Acclaimed executive chef Alex Guarnaschelli
- Italian maestro Scott Conant
Round 1: APPETIZER (20 minutes). Our first
course must feature... red cherry peppers, mortadella, and soft-shell crabs.
Damien should've stayed in bed. Better wake up.
Your 20 starts now.
Pnina: Cornmeal Crusted Crab
Lonnie: Soft Shell Crab "BLT"
Susan: Pan-Seared Soft Shell Crab
Damien: Deep-Fried Crab with Vinaigrette
How do you work with soft-shell crab? Take off
their faces... and remove their lungs. Susan... forgets to do this. Pnina DOES
do this. But has she the time to make her dish? Lonnie goes to plan B, because
he can't find tomatoes (look beside you), so he goes with peppers for a...
Lonnie: Soft Shell Crab "BLP" with Red Pepper
Slaw
Peppers and mortadella go nicely together.
Damien... hasn't figured anything out with... and he's got eight minutes left.
Susan has mozzarella on her station. Cheese and fish do not go together. At all.
Damien goes to plan B with a pan-fry. Two minute warning. Lonnie has an herb
aioli in the works. Susan couples her dish with a warm arugula salad. And Damien
is still behind with a minute left.
... and TIME... WHEW! That was close.
Pnina's crab dish and pepper are nicely spiced.
The cornmeal is a little sandy and gritty. And Scott's not pleased with the
cheese and fish number.
Lonnie's flavors go well together. Alex thinks
that the sandwich is a little wonky, and Scott has an aversion with too many raw
onions.
Susan's salad and peppers go well together. But
the dish is two dishes on one plate.
Damien... had some trouble. He didn't even taste
his own dish. The sauce is good, though. But his crabs are raw.
So Damien openly admits to having fault with the
ingredients. But the judges believe that he is a talented chef. And the judges
tore all of the chefs apart... especially Scott with his aversion to cheese/fish
combos and raw onions. So who'll be the first to go? The first person... to get
chopped... is... DAMIEN. Lack of heat with the crab was scary.
Round 2: ENTREE (30 minutes). Time for
celebration is over. Time for baby bananas, black-eyed peas, poblano peppers,
and ostrich steak is nigh...
... and time starts now.
We start with grand theft ingredients, as Lonnie,
either mistakenly or willfully, helps himself to Pnina's black-eyed peas and
ostrich. Bad Lonnie. No home game.
Pnina: Spiced Ostrich with Braised Black-Eyed
Peas and Fried Bananas
Lonnie: Bacon-Wrapped Ostrich Steaks
Susan: Grilled Ostrich Steaks
Baby bananas are very sweet. These bananas are
not ripe, so your best bet is to make it savory.
We're already halfway in. Lonnie is frying his
peas after a failed boil. All three chefs are using wine to some extent. You
need to cook it down for some time in order to catch some of that essence.
Lonnie uses it with some hot ingredients in a blender. The result.. scald. His
ostrich is raw, but he's working on a pico de gallo with the blackeyed peas. And
all of the chefs have an issue with letting the meat rest so it seals in all of
that goodness...
But it doesn't stop the plating.
The clock, however, does. TIME. And Lonnie takes
a little bit off of Pnina's plate. Again.
The judges liked the salsa, which gives them a
nice texture. The starchiness of the bananas... cloying. The ostrich and the
bacon cooked around it... extremely not cooked.
Susan's meat is overcooked on one side. She's
disappointed that it wasn't as rare as she had hoped. The bananas made up for
it.
Pnina's peas and poblanos were dealt with very
well. The fried bananas also earns raves. The ostrich... also overcooked.
So overcooked... Overcooked... Undercooked. Is
the bacon going to be enough to send Lonnie home? Susan did the best job she
could with the meat. All three dishes were very flawed, but whose was the most
so? The next person... to be chopped... is... LONNIE. Too much rawness.
Round 3: DESSERT (30 minutes). Sweet
success depends on how you treat lychees, phyllo dough, Canadian bacon, and
candy canes.
We're half an hour away from payday. LET'S GO!
This is the first time in Chopped history that
there have been two women in the final.
Pnina: Bourekas with Lychees & Ricotta Cheese
Susan: Maple Candy Bacon
Lychees have a very floral favorite. It's going
to take a lot of time and patience to peel and cook them. Susan is going to go
with a napoleon with apples and bacon. She's also going to work lychees with
orange. Pnina... forgot about candy canes. She's just going to have to smash the
devil out of them. She's going to turn that into a mint cream. One minute, and
Susan's chocolate doesn't work.
... and TIME. No one likes lychees with
peppermint sticks. But for one of these ladies, they're going to love it.
Susan's meat is overcooked on one side. She's
disappointed that it wasn't as rare as she had hoped. The bananas made up for
it.
Susan's napoleon cream is wonderful. The Canadian
bacon needed to be sliced a little better. The candy canes were also an
afterthought.
Pnina's sauces were very creative. All three of
her courses were very consistent, and very homey. Another problem, aside from
the candy cane garnish, was that the dessert was a little bland.
The judges were perplexed. Some things were a
little more successful with others. Pnina's dishes came from home and from the
heart. Did she show creative growth? Susan, on the other hand, went from one
place to the other.
So whose dessert is going to bank them $10,000?
The final person... to be chopped... is... SUSAN. Flashes of brilliance
overshadowed by a lack of coherence.
But for Pnina, everything comes together, so now
$10,000 and the title of Chopped Champion are coming her way.
And one more person will share in her fate next
week. Three more... will be Chopped.
To see this episode in its
entirety, or to apply to be a contestant on "Chopped", visit the
official website at
www.foodnetwork.com/chopped.