Noelle Myers recaps the final episode of season 5!

The Top Chef Masters Finale did not disappoint!  After a brief recap of their journey to the Finale, we met up with the three finalists.  They were told to wear casual clothes and show up at an old church.  There they found that Curtis had set up a lovely table and was cooking for them.

The old church was being refurbished by none other than Neil.  It would be a lovely restaurant when finished.  After a delicious dinner of spot prawns, ravioli and a lemon crème dessert, it was time to get back to business.

For the final Elimination Challenge, The chefs had to cook “The Courses of Your Career.”

1^st Course – Something Old – What inspired them to cook.

2^nd Course – Something New – Who they are today as a chef.

3^rd Course – Something Borrowed – A dish from the biggest influence in their lives.

4^th Course – Something Sous  – The dessert that their sous chef created in the final Battle of the Sous.

The chefs had 7 hours to prep and shop on the first day and 2 hours before service the next.  Douglas did not get to have his sous chef for the first day, due to his performance in the Battle of the Sous.

During the 7 hours of prep time, the difference in cooking styles was very apparent.  Douglas was very focused and quiet – and VERY busy as he was by himself.  Jen and Jorell were frenetic and loud and rushing around.  Bryan and Graeme were more fluid and calm, despite getting stuck in traffic and being quite a bit behind.

The nerves really kicked in for everyone when the critics arrived and service started.  The critics for the finale were – Jane Goldren, James Oseland, Gail Simmons, Curtis Stone, Ruth Reichel, Lesley Suter, Alan Richmond, Frances Lam and Hadley Tomeki.  An impressive array of judges, noted all the chefs as they brought out their first course – Something Old.

For her first course, Jennifer wanted to do a play on potato pancakes, a dish she made several times with the man that raised her.  She created a potato sunchoke gallette with smoked salmon, caviar, pickled apples and crème freche.  Douglas’s first course was a play on one of his favorite comfort foods, mussels and wine.  He made soup billibi with white wine, saffron, fennel puree and uni.  Brian immediately knew he wanted to do a take on the first dish he ever cooked for his wife,  chicken chesapeake.  He created groat salad with dungeness crab, asparagus, hen egg custard and crispy chicken skins.

For their second courses the chefs all had to create something that showed where they were today as a chef.  Jennifer made saffron-paella gnocchi with chicken meatballs, mussels and shrimp.  Bryan made poached black cod with onion dashi, date and parsnip puree and green apple.  Douglas made soba wrapped ocean trout, ginger dashi and groats.

The dishes in the third course were all stunning.  For something borrowed, Jennifer borrowed from Wolfgang Puck, and made Chinese duck with shitake broth, eggplant daikon, grilled bok choy and a duck wonton.  Bryan borrowed from two sources and made braised beef cheek and New York strip with seaweed potatoes, candied turnips and maitake mushrooms.  Douglas also borrowed from a mentor and made duck breast, with sake, roasted daikon, tamarind, golden pea sprouts, dates and hen of the woods mushrooms.

For the last course the chefs each made a twist on their sous chefs desserts from the Battle of the Sous.  Bryan made coconut, lavender, vanilla.  Jen was not quite sure of her sous dessert, but she made smoked macadamia with chocolate Bavarian napoleon, tapioca and milk caramel. Douglas made black sesame panna cotta, shattered miso custard and green tea matcha.

With the cooking done, it was up to the judges.  James and Curtis loved Jennifer’s, gnocchi dish, and all of the critics loved her “borrowed” dish.  They felt her dessert was challenging and flawed.

James told Bryan that his cod was one of the best cooked fish dishes he had ever had.  The critics could all feel the love in Bryan’s something old dish, and thought it was amazing.  They felt his borrowed dish was too heavy with the two types of beef, but found his dessert to be stunning.

Douglas’s something old got rave reviews, and while his duck was over cooked on a few dishes for his something borrowed, the rest of the dish made up for it.  The judges were somewhat alarmed by being served a grey dessert, but they all thought it was lovely once they tasted it.

And the Winner of Top Chef Masters and $100,000 for their charity was……………………….Douglas!

Winning helped Douglas to overcome a few fears and a few weeks later he did the thing that almost got him kicked out of the competition on the first week.  He faced his fear and jumped out of a plane.  Good for you Douglas!

Top Chef Masters may be over but stay tuned!  Next week starts Top Chef New Orleans!