Noelle Myers recaps the 10th episode of Top Chef New Orleans!

After a short holiday break, Top Chef New Orleans was back in full swing.  The chefs were greeted by John Besh, Padma and live crawfish when they entered the studio.  Etouffee was the theme of the Quickfire Challenge this week.  The winner received immunity for the Elimination Challenge.  The chefs had 45 minutes for their interpretation on the challenge.

We found out that Stephanie was allergic to crawfish, and so she had to get help from others to make her dish, Carlos brought her a bucket of them, Nick tasted her dish for seasonings.

Nina took her Etouffee in an Italian direction, with pici pasta and tomato crawfish broth.  Carrie created a Spanish style Etouffee with crawfish broth, chickpeas and almonds.  Nick made a crawfish and shrimp mousse in Napa cabbage with brandy and corn.  Shirley stayed very close to her roots with a Singapore style chili crab Etouffee with cucumber and egg.  Shirley was the only one who served her Etouffee with rice.  Brian went with Korean style for his Etouffee with gochujuan, corn, peppers, andouille and pasta.  Carlos did not know anything about Etouffee, and so he made a shrimp soup with crawfish, guajillos, corn and crispy chorizo.  Stephanie, despite her inability to taste her dish, made a crawfish bisque, with parisian gnocchi and poached crawfish.

John Besh decided that Nina, Brian and Shirley did the best at this Quickfire Challenge.  The clear winner was Shirley.  John Besh wanted to eat more of her Etouffee as he tasted it during the challenge.

From crawfish to Louisiana Seafood, the chefs moved straight into the Elimination Challenge.  Louisiana Seafood hosted a party with 200 guests.  The chefs had to create a dish that highlighted two different types of seafood.  Before the challenge started, John Besh invited the cheftestants to dine with him at his home.  They all had a relaxing evening and John Besh gave them some good advice on competing.

Tom, Hugh Acheson, John Besh, and Padma were the judges for this Elimination Challenge.

Nick was still mad at Carlos over the oven incident last episode, so he was not inclined to help him when Carlos asked to borrow his knife.  He eventually gave in however, and let Carlos use his knife, with the admonition to be very careful with it.

Nina Served a marinated wahoo ceviche with salsa verde, tomato sauce and pickled vegetables.  Shirley served her first ever cold dish in the competition, and made a tuna and amberjack ceviche with aged soy sauce, lime, cilantro, and toasted pecans.  Nick went all out and made oyster three ways, with oyster leek soup, oyster champagne emulsion, and oyster green apple yogurt, and cured amberjack.  Brian was one of a few who served a hot dish.  He made grilled swordfish, shrimp and sweet onion puree, with fennel daikon relish.  Carlos made an amberjack ceviche with rustic peach and shrimp relish.  Stephanie also served a hot dish, taking the extra time to fix them as the guests came to the table so her fried Louisiana oysters with tuna and pickled beach mushrooms were fresh.  Carrie made flounder croquettes with oyster emulsion and pickled cucumbers.  Tom was not happy that she pureed the beautiful flounder, but Carrie wanted to show technique.

After the competition was over, Nick found his knife shoved in a corner, crusted with dried fish, and cleaned it off himself.  He and the other chefs were not overly thrilled with Carlos at this point.  Nick was furious.  This was the second time Carlos had crossed a line.

Brian, Stephanie and Nina were called to the Judges Table first.  Stephanie was super nervous as she really wanted to have a good showing for John Besh.  She needn’t have worried, her oysters were fried perfectly and she won the Elimination Challenge.

Nick, Carrie and Carlos were called as the bottom three.  None of the chefs highlighted the seafood sufficiently for the judges, but it was Carrie’s treatment of the flounder that sent her home.  The challenge was to highlight seafood, not a technical challenge.  Carrie was sent to Last Chance Kitchen.

Next week, things get harsh as the top SIX chefs compete!