- This is "Last Chance Kitchen,"
brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch.
[dramatic tones]
[upbeat music]
- Jamie, Jamie, Jamie.
- I'm frustrated. Gave up my immunity,
it was the right thing to do and I was eliminated, so...
I don't want to win the title of "Top Chef"
by playing games. I realize it's a competition,
but at the end of the day, the best chef should win.
- You made "Top Chef" history by giving up immunity.
You're the first person ever to do that.
Any regrets? - No.
It was the right thing to do.
In the pirate challenge, you had immunity
so you deliberately took the two worst ingredients.
You took peanut butter and chicken breasts.
And unfortunately your plate caused
the entire team to be on the bottom.
- He's got immunity. If there's something--
we get some strange ingredient that doesn't go into it,
he can throw it into his dish. - I'll take it.
- And what about you, Jamie, what did you make?
- Uh, so I made you guys a chicken satay.
- His lack of effort or ambition
might have really sunk the whole team.
- We have an important decision to make.
- Yeah, I just have one thing I'd like to say.
I would like to offer up my immunity
and be judged with my team.
- He had immunity and he kind of fell on his sword.
[suspenseful music]
That pirate sword, I guess it was that you fell on.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
So for your challenge, I'm gonna give you
a new crack at your team's treasure chest.
- Oh, great.
- But you get the good ingredients:
the lobster, the truffle, the oranges, the peas.
This is my last chance to use a pirate pun.
Arrgh you gonna use peanut butter?
[laughter and groans]
- No way.
- Jim, what do you think of these ingredients?
Sound good, right? Lobster, peas, truffle.
- They sound good to me, yeah.
- You don't have to use all the ingredients.
Just pick the ones that you like.
Hopefully you'll make a dish that would have
put your team on the top.
30 minutes. Your time starts now.
[clapping] - Come on!
[energetic music]
- I'm a little pleased by what's in the mystery box.
As I see what's in the box, it's all coming together there.
There's kafir lime leaves. There's fennel.
There's lemongrass.
These are all ingredients that--
what I like to cook when I cook Asian food,
and so I already have an idea as to what I'm gonna make
and how I'm gonna do it. - Take the chicken breasts.
- And the peanut butter? - Yeah take the chicken breasts.
I'm definitely fired up to put out a really solid dish.
Had I got the opportunity to work with truffles and lobster
in the elimination, I don't think I would have
been going home, so I'm definitely gonna bring it.
- Hey! - Hey!
- The Italian Stallion.
[upbeat rock music]
- Why's he always steal all the butter each challenge?
- [laughs] You see? - He just took a ton of butter
and he did it to Sylva, too. I like his style.
- Mm-hmm. [blender whirring]
- There you go. Citrus so it doesn't turn brown.
♪ ♪
- What you making, Jimbo?
- Sort of an Asian, poached truffle lobster tail.
- Ooh. - What about you, Jamie?
- Heading down the same path, except I'm gonna poach
my lobster tails in a little lemongrass,
truffle, little bit of orange, over a pea emulsion.
- "Orange" you glad it's not peanut butter?
- Say it again? [laughter]
- 22 minutes, guys.
♪ ♪
- We didn't get any fennel, huh?
♪ ♪
- I will say that seafood is definitely
one of my biggest strengths.
I was selected by my peers to be the chairman
of the Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission.
So I have some ideas about how to cook a lobster tail,
so I'm feeling pretty good about it.
- I smell lobster.
- For me, the most important thing is
not to overcook the lobster tail.
The lobster needs to be poached just right,
or it gets really rubbery and tough.
You know, everybody wants to win
and we're definitely very focused on executing.
- 18 minutes, guys!
[clapping] - Turn it up!
- Why don't we get butter in pounds, guys, seriously?
What's up with that? - [laughs]
- Why are you using all the butter, Jim?
- He's like, "I can take it all
way easier if it was in pounds."
- It's gonna take a lot of butter to poach
these four lobster tails that I have because they're so big,
and poaching lobster in butter, it's not the hardest
thing to do, but it's something that kind of
requires a steady eye.
- Jimmy, you didn't see any fennel over there, did you?
- Yeah, it's in the mystery box. I have a bowl if you want it.
- I'll totally take it.
- Oh, look at this, the hand-over.
all: Aww. - Yes.
- Thanks, man.
- The integrity challenge is back!
Yes! I mean, that's pretty cool, right?
One guy gives up his immunity,
the other guy gives up his fennel.
This is like the integrity challenge, guys.
- Yeah. - I feel like one's, uh...
- One's a little bit bigger. I'm with the fennel too.
I get that. - 15 minutes!
- How are you feeling right now, Jamie?
- I'm feeling good. - What you got there?
- Some of that pea emulsion.
This competition is the hardest thing I've ever done.
I run restaurants, I plan menus,
I'm methodical that way, so in this competition,
we're frantically trying to get these dishes
together with a time crunch. It's a really big challenge.
- Oh, sh--. Jimbo?
- What's up? - Turn around.
- Oh. Oh--oh--oh--oh.
Thank you.
Glad I have some fans in the cheering section.
I cranked the temperature up on that to get those flavors
extracted, particularly from the lobster tails.
Every day I come into the kitchen,
especially in these challenges,
it's always serious for me.
I want to win this challenge.
- 12 minutes, guys.
- What's up? - What's up, Chef?
- Ooh. So what are you making there?
- Butter poached lobster with some kafir lime
and, um, some of the lemongrass.
A little bit of truffle. - Okay.
- We're gonna blend some flavors here a little bit.
- Got it. Blending of flavors.
What's up, Jim? - Hey, Chef.
- What are you doing with your lobster?
- Poaching it in a... truffle...fennel...
kafir lime butter.
- You guys are sounding like you're doing the same dish.
- Uh, maybe so. I hope not.
Maybe I shouldn't have said my dish too loud.
- Jim has kind of put together a similar flavor profile
that I was working with.
It's gonna be close.
- Dude, you wish you had immunity now?
- Ha-ha. Yeah, right.
I do.
- That's a lot of lobster to cut up.
- Yeah, I know. - You have almost seven minutes.
Seven minutes.
That's a lot of sauce there.
- It's, uh, lobster, fennel, lemongrass.
That's about half cream, half coconut milk.
- Why so much?
- Uh, you know, I got to feed those guys over there.
- Ah, okay. Jim's looking out for you.
He's cooking for the whole team, I guess.
[laughter]
- How's that lobster, Jamie? - It's good.
- What's that? - Butter...
- Butter that you're poaching it in.
- Yeah. - Going pretty hard there.
- Yeah...
- What is that, Jamie?
- It's a little orange and fennel salad.
Jim is a really solid cook,
but I think I have the chops to beat anybody.
I hate to have to knock him out,
but that's what you got to do.
- Two minutes.
- The lobster's perfectly cooked.
The broth is tasting awesome.
I'm feeling good about what I'm making
and it's all coming together nicely.
- One minute left.
- I'm really happy with the way my dish is shaping up.
Colors are good.
The texture of the lobster's great.
So I think I definitely got a good chance.
- 30 seconds, guys.
[tense music]
- Five seconds.
- You got it, Jim? - Four...
- Come on, Jim, go. all: Three...
two, one!
[cheers and applause]
- Good job. - Good job.
- Yeah, man.
[dramatic sting]
- Hey, Jamie. - Hey, Chef.
- All right, so, what do we have here?
- Here we have, uh... - The pirate's booty?
- A little pirate's booty, we got, uh,
a butter-poached kafir lime,
lemongrass and black truffle
butter-poached lobster over pea emulsion.
Uh, with a little fennel radish,
um, and black truffle salad.
- So you used the can of peas?
- I used the canned peas. I--I blended a little bit
of spinach in it to brighten the color a little bit.
Heated that up on the stove,
melted it with a little bit of butter,
um, and then strained it out.
- All right, thanks. - Yep. Yep.
[tense music]
- Hey, Jim. - Hello, Chef.
- What do we have here? - So, uh,
I've poached the lobster tails and a little bit of
the kafir lime leaf, a little bit of the lemongrass,
the truffle, and, uh, and butter.
And I've stirred that with a broth that I made
from the, uh, bones from the shells,
a little bit of, uh, ginger, some five-spice.
- What was it on top of this?
A little salad or something? - Oh, there was just--
I just did a tiny little bit of shaved raw fennel
and, uh, lemon zest and truffle.
- Thanks.
[suspenseful music]
[dramatic tones]
- You know, I think the treasure chest
gave you some pretty good ingredients.
And you ended up doing dishes that were very similar
in flavor profiles.
A little different in, uh, execution.
I like food that is well-seasoned
to the point where everything is balanced,
everything just kind of works together.
Jamie, I found your dish-- everything was cooked nicely,
but I found the dish to be a little just under-seasoned.
That salt does more than add salt,
it just brings the flavors,
you'll get more of those background flavors.
Jim, I found your broth to be really, really delicious.
Um, I thought the lobster was nicely cooked.
But you went the opposite way.
There was that garnish that was so salty.
[tense music]
Um...
Jamie, you win.
- Awesome.
- Good job. Way to go. - Thanks, man. Great job.
- Jim, did you taste it afterwards?
Did you see what I was saying?
'Cause I was asking about that one garnish.
I got it in my mouth, it was-- I had to stop eating.
Maybe your hands are wet, 'cause sometimes
if your hands are wet, a clump of salt
just goes on there, yeah. - That may have been it.
Because the rest of the dish was really beautiful,
But it's that one little thing that really threw it off, so...
You can exit the kitchen. - Thank you, Chef.
I made a mistake and it's enough to send me home.
It's, uh--it's tough.
Sometimes it's the simple mistakes
and I wanted to make it further in the competition.
I knew "Top Chef" was gonna be a life-changing experience
and I--I'm leaving here knowing that it has been.
It's been everything I wanted and more.
- Jamie, you're gonna need this. - Awesome.
- Got that back. - Thank you, Chef.
- I know how bad you want this.
I mean, you gave up immunity, you should still be
in the competition. Lot of integrity,
but you still have a long way to go.
I think you have five more chefs to go through
till you get back in the competition.
But getting closer, okay?
- Yep. I'm gonna bring it.
- I'll see you next week. - Thank you.
- I'm super excited.
I haven't put out my best food yet
and I really want a chance to show everybody
what I'm made of. I'm looking forward
to who my next competitor's gonna be
and getting after it. Back in.
- Way to go.
♪ ♪
[dramatic tones]
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