We got something of everything on this week’s episode of Top Chef Canada: some frustrations, some surprises, and an equal portion of culinary missteps and magic.
Quickfire
It’s made by an American company, but somehow, good ol’ Kraft Dinner has earned a spot in the pantheon of quintessentially Canadian meals of convenience. While the mac ‘n’ cheese staple seems to have gotten a bad rap from modern foodies, I’d hazard a guess that practically everyone of cooking age in this country has whipped up a box of KD (and enjoyed it) at least once in their life.
For the quickfire, our chefs had to create not one, but two versions of a Kraft Dinner–inspired dish: a refined take, and an “everyday” one.
Fortunately, Trevor didn’t attempt to recreate his childhood concoction of Kraft Dinner, canned tuna, bread, ketchup and protein powder. Instead he employed roasted garlic, whole-grain mustard, broccoli and spicy sausage. I thought it was kind of ingenious that he actually used only one ingredient combination, but presented it two ways. The shortcut definitely saved him some time, but it didn’t work for guest judge Keisha Chanté—she expected more variety from the pair of offerings.
Poor Xavier. Having grown up in France, he hadn’t been exposed to KD before; unlike the other chefs, the poor guy had to waste time reading the box instructions. His unfamiliarity with the featured ingredient didn’t hamper his efforts, though, as his dishes were deemed second best of the challenge.
Which begs the question: who was first? You may not be surprised to learn that it was once again David.
The Toronto veteran’s been on a roll of late; he won $5,000 in last week’s elimination challenge, and another $10,000 bonus in this quickfire. Quite the big score! Apparently he’ll be using the cash for a good cause—proposing to his girlfriend. That’s probably the most lucrative mac ‘n’ cheese grilled cheese sandwich and bacon-wrapped scallop he’ll ever cook!
Elimination
From Canadian comfort, our chefs crossed the culinary pond (and drove to north Toronto) to serve an Italian family feast at Mark McEwan’s Fabbrica restaurant. Each contestant drew a plate to determine which of the six courses they’d cook for our regular judges plus “First Lady of Italian Cuisine” Lidia Bastianich.
Most of the competitors seemed pretty at ease with Italian cooking. At least, they used all the right keywords—simplicity, freshness, rustic—when grocery shopping. Trevor, though, was a bit disconcerted that he once again pulled the dessert course; we’ll wait until the end of the meal to analyze his efforts.
After a nicely praised, team-created antipasti course, Jonathan brought in his soup to high expectations (recall that last week Marcus Samuelsson called Jonathan’s broth a “masterpiece”). His deconstructed stracciatella didn’t disappoint!
From there, service was a bit back and forth. Xavier came up short with his proceeding braised veal pappardelle. He had very little room for error in serving pasta to a standard-bearer of Italian cooking. Unfortunately, not only were his noodles a bit too al dente, the dish as a whole was overwhelmingly salty.
Next, David continued his hot streak by expertly using Fabbrica’s wood-burning oven to cook whole European sea bass and sea bream, then Carl brought out a veritable feast of his own—roasted leg of lamb, pork and fennel sausage, arugula salad, and a selection of funghi—that failed to impress in terms of both texture and flavour.
Did Trevor end the evening on a high note? Not really. While he presented a lemon granita that seemed a nice palate cleanser, his family-style tiramisu was deemed a safe choice, and, generally, a letdown.
It did not, however, prove to be his undoing. Perhaps the judges decided it wasn’t fair to send someone home for a dessert, no matter how one-dimensional it was.
Xavier instead made the more flagrant errors. His pasta course revealed a number of errors in execution that our judges just couldn’t ignore, and so the Quebec-based chef was asked to relinquish his jacket and leave the Top Chef kitchen.
In the winner’s circle were, effectively, both Jonathan and David. The former’s zuppa actually won the challenge, but David’s simple, subtle fish dish was selected to appear on a special menu at Milestones restaurants. For that, the show also cut him another cheque, this time for $3,000.
Heat Meter
Who was hot (and who was not) in episode 11?
Hot: David. The guy has been on fire over the past two episodes. A couple of outright challenge wins, plus a cool $18,000 for his efforts.
Not: Carl. Unusually, the show’s resident protein expert shanked two meaty mains in the elimination challenge. His sausage had an overly processed texture and his lamb just looked boring.
Not: Xavier. Though he didn’t do too badly with an unfamiliar quickfire ingredient, the Frenchman failed to successfully execute his Italian elimination offering. Hopefully the experience won’t breed in him any sort of cross-cultural contempt.
Craig Moy is an editor at a Toronto-based city magazine. He also writes about all manner of cultural topics, including food culture.
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