Noelle Myers recaps the 4th episode of Top Chef New Orleans!

Top Chef this week started out with a bang.  Emeril showed up at a Cheftestant’s house in New Orleans along with Eddie Haung, their guest judge and host of “Fresh off the Boat.”  There will be no Quickfire this week.  The chefs will go straight to the Elimination Challenge.

For their Elimination Challenge, the chefs were broken up into 3 teams of 5 chefs.  They had to work together to create a Vietnamese menu.  They would be serving the judges, as well as some local Vietnamese residents.  One dish on their menu had to highlight shrimp.  Emeril broke the group up into teams:

Red Team: Shirley, Justin, Carrie, Patty, and Nina

Green Team: Janine, Bene, Travis, Sarah, and Stephanie

Orange Team: Michael, Nicholas, Louis, Carlos, and Brian

Emeril and Eddie took the teams out around New Orleans to several different locations to give them a crash course in Vietnamese cooking.  The first stop was a local Vietnamese bakery.  Next, they headed to the shrimping docks, and took a turn at different aspects of working a shrimp boat.  Several chefs talked to the fishermen to get some advice on what to cook.  Finally Emeril and Eddie took the chefs to try traditional Vietnamese noodles.  Travis bragged on how he knows more Vietnamese than even Eddie.  He bragged about it a LOT!.

After their tour of the local eateries, each team had to come up with a menu for their challenge.  They were given money and time to shop at a Vietnamese market, then it was off to the kitchen.

Some teams worked better together than others.  The Green Team seemed to have the most trouble, as both Sarah and Travis claimed expertise in the style of cooking, and both tried to be in charge.  At some point, the Green Team lost their lemongrass, an essential ingredient in their dishes.

Along with the local guests, Emeril, Padma, Tom, Eddie Haung and Gail judged the dishes for this Elimination Challenge.

The Orange team was up first and they served:

Black Pepper Squid with Cabbage

Fish Head soup with Pineapple and Tamarind

Pork Belly Spring Rolls and Dipping Sauce

Beef Pho

The judges agreed that the squid was very bland, the spring roll was delicious, the soup was far too sweet and the pho was weak.  Not the Orange team’s best showing.

The Red Team went next serving:

Vietnamese BBQ Shrimp

Beef Pho With Rice Noodles and Lettuce

Raw Beef Salad with Pickled Vegetables

Lemon Custard with Caramelized Bahn Mi

The judges felt this team’s pho was much better, great even considering the time constraints.  The chili butter sauce in the Vietnamese shrimp was very flavorful and a favorite of the judges.  The texture was off in the raw beef salad, and the custard felt like an afterthought.

The Green Team went last serving:

Fresh Gulf Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Grilled Pork Sausage Wraps

Dim Sum “Duo”  – Oxtail and Shrimp

Coconut Macaroon with Coffee Caramel

The judges were less than impressed with the shrimp, it had been fried and then smothered in the tomato sauce.  The tomato sauce felt too Italian to the judges with not enough Vietnamese flavors.  The sausage was good, but the dipping sauce was far too sharp, and had no balance.  They loved the oxtail dim sum, but the shrimp dim sum had a funny texture.  They all enjoyed the Macaroon.

While the chefs sat in the stew room waiting for the TV to turn on they have an impromptu “Plank Challenge.”  Shirley won!

No one felt too confident when the television came on and the judges started talking.  Padma entered and the Red Team was called first.  They were the winning team.  The winner of this elimination challenge was Shirley, with her Vietnamese BBQ shrimp and chili butter.  She got the idea from talking to the fishermen’s wives at the shrimping docks.

The Green Team was called out as the bottom team.  The judges gave them a really rough critique and in the end it was Janine’s poor cooking of the shrimp that sent her to last chance kitchen.

Next week – Lea Michelle and a Killer Halloween Party!