Noelle Myers recaps the 3rd episode of season 5!

There was drama everywhere this week on Top Chef Masters.  Curtis looked amazing, as usual, as he greeted the chefs dressed in purple sweaters.  There were several parcels on the table next to Curtis, each with a Chef’s name on it.  In each parcel there was an array of proteins left over from the Sous Chef Challenge.  The Sous Chefs had to make sausage, but didn’t know that they needed to save some of their protein for their Master Chef.

For the Quickfire Challenge, the Chefs had 30 minutes to come up with a dish using what their Sous Chefs left them.  In some cases there was very little left for the chefs to work with.  Every one scrambled to come up with a dish.

Amelia and Erika from the Lindy and Grundy Butcher shop were guest judges for the Quickfire along with Curtis.  Neal made a dish straight off of David’s menu – ricotta cavatelli with pork and duck sausage.  David was impressed that Neal remembered the dish, and even more impressed when Neal was one of the favorites of the Quickfire.  Sang went simple with a spicy pork larb with cabbage and Thai chilies.  Bryan created a dish he called Morning Hunt, based on his experiences with hunting, and made a venison patty with granola and coffee soil.  Lynn only had a couple of pieces of bacon and a beef bone in her package, so she created a carbonara with arugula, leeks, and mushrooms.  The judges didn’t appreciate her carbonara, however, and she was one of the judges least favorites.

Douglas impressed the judges with his duck breast, with sweet corn and roasted daikon in ponzu.  David had very little to work with but pulled pressed prawn and asparagus out of his bag of tricks.  Sue made a pork broth with canillini beans, swiss chard, and salsa verde.  The Judges found her pork a bit dry and she too was on the bottom.  In the end, it was the simplicity of Sang’s Larb that made him the winner of the Quickfire and earned his charity, the Worldwide Orphans Fund, another $5000.

Now, it was time to really bring on the drama for the Elimination Challenge.  The Chefs learned they would be cooking for the cast of Days of Our Lives, who had just taped their 12,000^th episode.  Yes, you read that right, twelve thousand episodes!  The Chefs had to create dishes that best represented the 3 cornerstone plot points of soap operas – Sex, Greed, and Murder.  The Chefs each chose a script, except for Lynn who got a special script.

After every one read their script, they found out which plot point they had to bring to their dish.  Lynn found out hers was blank.  Her Sous Chef, Laura, was the winner of the Sous Chef Battle and so Lynn had immunity and was able to choose what plot point she wanted to highlight.  She chose the theme of Sex.  Unfortunately, Sang, Franklin and Bryan had a plot twist to deal with as their Sous Chefs performed the worst.  The chefs also found they were competing against those with the same plot theme.  Ideas immediately started flying left and right, and they were all across the board, from raunchy to macabre.

The Chefs all arrived in the kitchen hearing very creepy organ music.  Curtis told them when the organ played one of the bottom three chefs would have to “face the music” and find out what their penalty will be.  Everyone scattered to start cooking.  Soon the organ played, and Curtis called Bryan over and gave him a script.  Bryan had to go to Prison for 30 minutes.  Bryan paced in his makeshift cell and waited to get back to his food.  He was glad that he was the first one to lose time, since he didn’t have anything on the stove yet.  Franklin was called next and read his script.  He had to spend 30 minutes in a coma.  Unfortunately for the other contestants, Franklin was probably the only coma victim to be able to chatter.  Poor Sang was last to serve his time.  He had to spend 30 minutes in the crime scene, someone tried to murder him.  He was unable to overcome the late penalty and didn’t finish his dish completely.

The Judges for this elimination round were Curtis, Gail, Ruth Reichel and Lesley Suter.  They were joined by the cast of Days of Our Lives.  The Days of Our Lives cast chose their favorite from each category, and their least favorite.  Someone from the least favorite category would be going home, and someone from the favorites category would win $10,000 for their charity.

First up – Murder!

Jennifer served “Dead Duck,”  a citrus seared duck breast and citrus chili duck sausage with fregola and celery Salad.  She explained that the blood orange Sauce was the blood, celery leaves were the duck’s feathers, and the murder weapon was still sticking out of the duck breast…..a bloody knife!  The entire table enjoyed her presentation and found the dish clever and original.  Odette served “Lucretia’s Jewels”, a twist on poisoning by mushrooms.  She served mushroom and soft egg yolk filled ravioli.  Most of the table found it bland and the Days of Our Lives cast were a little put off by the egg yolk in the ravioli.  Sang served “Dismembered Chicken in Cold Blood Sauce,” a chicken liver, thigh and meatball over forbidden black rice with crispy skin.  He didn’t get the sauce to the plate, but no one seemed to notice.  They did notice how very salty the crispy skin was though.

Next – Sex!

Franklin served “Fourplay,”  an appetizer of salmon, crab, yuzu and green apple salad, scallop with fennel and chilies, tuna and avocado.  Neal served “Ménage A Trois,” a trio of scallop ceviche, thai snapper with yuzo kusho uni, and cauliflower flan with crème fraiche and caviar.  David served his version of “Breakfast in Bed,” with lobster and ostrich egg scramble with XO toast, sea urchin butter, grains of paradise and caviar in an ostrich egg half.  Lynn went for “Snuggles after Sex,”  and served a bacon wrapped duck breast with carrot puree, grapes, and chocolate port sauce.

Final course – Greed!

Bryan used Sustainability as his theme and served the judges turbot with mussels, clams, crab and smoked potato in a seafood broth.  Sue was a huge fan of Days of Our Lives and was very excited to see the cast.  She used ingredients she thought greedy people would like and served Alaskan, jumbo, dungeness tempura crab, caviar, avocado and carrots in a coconut-lime sauce.  Douglas created a complex dish with Salem sweet shrimp and Dimera bitter crab.

After dinner, Curtis came to the Chefs and told them that the Days of Our Lives Cast loved Sue, Jennifer, and Franklin’s dishes.  They were the top three!  Jennifer was declared the winner and took home $10,000 for her charity, Work Options for Women.  Work Options for Women takes young women in the welfare system and teaches them skills needed for jobs in the hospitality industry.

Curtis then called Douglas, Lynn, and Odette to the Judges Table.  Lynn was fortunate, she had immunity.  Her duck was grey and unappetizing, and the carrots, grapes and chocolate sauce made the dish too sweet for most at the table.  The judges didn’t feel that Odette really took the theme to heart, and felt her dish was far too subtle.  They also found it bland, and some at the table were very unnerved by the egg yolk oozing from the ravioli.  Douglas thought his dish was just too sophisticated for the less than sophisticated palates that were sitting at the table.  Some of the judges disagree, saying his dish was too aggressively seasoned and the green cardamom overwhelmed everything.  In the end, the judges unhappily decide that it was Odette that had to go home.

Next week the Chefs get to pick the ingredients for the Sous Chef’s Battle…who will emerge the victor?