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Top Chef Washington DC: Tale of a Brazil Nut
Rankings and Commentary by Donna Emery
August 5, 2010
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Everyone loved
Tiffany’s tamales
This week on Top Chef, the cheftestants had to make Ethiopian-inspired food, and impress Top Chef Master Marcus Samuellson, and then make dishes from countries all around the world.
And, for once, someone was more annoying than Angelo.
The episode began with Kelly moping about losing yet another roommate, and Tiffany talking about how she was soon planning to get married, but didn’t know how they were going to pay for her wedding, which they’d planned to have, in Costa Rica.
Padma told the chefs there are no Ethiopian restaurants in Washington, D.C. so Marcus had come to inspire them to create Ethiopian dishes. After a quick lesson in Ethiopian cuisine, they scrambled to make their dishes. Angelo was gleeful; he had worked in an Ethiopian restaurant; Kenny said he and Angelo were the only ones who seemed comfortable with this cuisine. Once again, for Kenny, it’s all about Kenny.
Amanda was thrilled to see a leg of goat. Alex was slicing up a large tongue and raving about how well his Mom had been able to tickle his childish taste buds with cheaper cuts of meat, like tongue, when he was a kid. Many of the other chefs – especially Ed – comment that Alex is weak and shouldn’t be there.
After they create their dishes, the judges taste them and they criticize Alex, Stephen and Kevin. They say Kevin’s dish wasn’t spicy enough; Alex’s tongue was too dry and Stephen’s dish lacked moisture. But they praised Amanda’s goat stew, Angelo’s “doro wat” and Tiffany’s goulash. Marcus told Alex his dish tasted so authentic, he joked about whether Angelo had been born Ethiopian. So, I was really pleased to hear Marcus give the win – with its resultant immunity – to Tiffany, for her goulash. As a result, she was immune. Angelo shot her a very resentful look; he’d been praised for his authentic flavors, but she won?
Yay!
For the elimination challenge, Padma yakked about how there are many ambassadors living in the D.C. area and how they might enjoy eating dishes inspired by the cuisines of their home countries. So, the cheftestants would create a dish inspired by the cuisine of one of the countries. Padma told them they’d have an additional twist (as usual) for the challenge. They weren’t going to be allowed to use the stoves; they’d have to use sterno cans.
Tiffany didn’t automatically get to pick first, but drew the knife with the number “1”. As she enthused, it was her “lucky freakin’ day”! Tiffany was glad to use her first pick to select Mexico, and Angelo was excited to get Japan. Kelly smiled when she got Italy and Amanda did a happy dance when she got France. Kevin was brave and selected India. Alex, who had some experience with Spanish cooking, wanted Spain and Kenny chose Thailand. They went down the ranks to poor Steven, who was stuck with whatever country was left over. (It turned out to be Brazil – which he knew nothing about.)
Tough luck, buddy. He reasoned.....
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