Noelle Myers recaps the 8th episode of Top Chef New Orleans!

Eleven Chefs remain in the competition for Top Chef New Orleans.  This week the chefs walked into the kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge to find Dr. John was their guest judge.  For the Quickfire this week they did not make a dish.  They made Dr. John’s favorite condiment – Hot Sauce.  According to Dr. John, the sauce needed to have a “hip tang” and “Favorinocity”.  The chefs had 45 minutes to make and bottle their hot sauces.  The winner received immunity.

Nicholas, Carrie, and Nina were on the bottom.  Nina and Carrie’s sauces were deemed too hot.  Brian’s sauce was deemed “Verily Hip”, Justin’s sauce was a “Slick Idea”  and Carlos “hit a lot of curves” with his sauce.  In the end, Dr. John picked Brian’s “Verily Hip”  sauce as the winner.

As the chefs were congratulating Brian on his second immunity in a row, several men wheeled in a table with a 300lb pig on it!  The theme for the Elimination Challenge was “Pig Out.”  Toby Rodrigues and Donald Link were the guest judges this week, and the chefs had to create dishes using the whole pig.  Each chef was responsible for one dish, but the whole pig had to be used.   They had 5 hours to cook at the Bayou Barn, an outdoor cooking space.

Since Brian had immunity, he decided to take a chance and use a piece of equipment he had never used before – a Cajun oven.  Stephanie was wigged out by an alligator just on the other side of a bamboo fence, and Justin’s grill caught fire.

Tom, Padma, Hugh and the two guest judges joined 250 other guests in sampling the chef’s food.

Nina made a braised pig head ragu with roasted corn and mustard greens.  Carrie cooked crispy trotters with snap peas and pickled onions.  Stephanie served pork brodo with braised pork belly and a summer vegetable pickle.  Shirley wowed everyone with jiaozi dumpling with pork grilled kidney and pork fat salad.  This challenge was special to her, because it reminded her of traveling with her mother to see her grandmother and cook with her family.

Brian made porchetta with oyster mushrooms.  Louis made a slow grilled pork leg with spring onions, shiudu mushrooms, melted corn and popcorn.  Sara made a duo of pork dim sum with crab and shrimp hou gow.  Travis served a Cajun style pork ramen with pork bone broth and collard greens.  He received a bit of flack for not making his own noodles.

Carlos stuck close to his heart, and made his mother’s posole verde with chorizo taquitos.  He and Justin were having a mild competition to see who could make the best tacos.  Justin made a wood roasted pork breast taco with pork liver salsa verde.  Nicholas made a tete de cochon with summer beans, lemongrass vinaigrette and wheat berries.

The chefs were almost all second guessing themselves when the TV came on in the Stew Room.  Tom thought that this was some of the best food he had eaten in all ELEVEN seasons.

Nina, Shirley and Carlos were called first.  They were the Top Chefs tonight.  The judges were blown away by their dishes.  Shirley and Carlos were both emotional while explaining their connection to their dishes.  Carlos was chosen the winner.

Justin, Louis and Stephanie end up on the bottom.  They had good dishes, but a few executional flaws.  Louis ended up being sent to battle with Janine in Last Chance Kitchen.

Next week – RESTAURANT WARS! (I am giddy!)