Top Chef Canada’s 6th Episode aired last Monday and I wanted to give you guys an update on what’s been happening. The Season began with 15 Contestants from all over Canada, one, Patrick, is originally from Chicago but now lives in Toronto with his husband.
Living in Calgary now, I of course have been rooting for the two Calgarians, unfortunately, Rebekah was sent home already. But Connie who is the Co-Executive Chef and Co-Owner of CHARCUT Roast House in Calgary is a front runner - GO CONNIE! We have dined at her restaurant, had the tasting menu with wine pairings and it was excellent.
Last week’s episode was called the French Feast. The Quickfire is a Poutine Challenge. Poutine originated in Quebec and can be found across Canada (it is even served at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s). It is a dish consisting of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered in brown gravy or sauce and sometimes additional ingredients. The chefs are given 45 minutes.
The least favorites were Dale from Vancouver, the judges feel he hasn’t eaten much Poutine, he used foie gras and it came out “mushy”. Chris from Toronto made a fondue-like dish with the curds buried in the sauce, and Andrea also from Toronto made the mistake of blanching her potatoes, she also included Kobe beef and foie gras, it just seemed like too much.
The best were Todd from Newfoundland, he used Moose meat. Darryl from Winnipeg opted to use a baked potato rather than fries and kept it simple and used the cheese curds well. The “King” of Poutine is announced to be Francois. He does a potato pancake with blue cheese and prosciutto with a Port Wine sauce. He gets immunity and an advantage in the elimination challenge. He says “my Mama would be proud.” Francois did seem to have an advantage being the only Chef from Quebec.
For the elimination challenge, the chefs draw knives to find out what classic French proteins they will use. They are hazel nuts, frogs legs, skate, rack of lamb, lobster, rabbit, sweet breads, oysters, foie gras, and horse. (HORSE, who eats horse?) Francois gets to choose any protein as his advantage for winning the Quickfire - he takes frogs legs from Todd, much to Todd’s relief. He also gets to develop the menu progression.
The chefs get 20 minutes and $80 to shop at Loblaws. The chefs gat 90 minutes to prep their dishes, 2 hours to cook their meal.
The four favorite dishes were:
Connie, she gets lobster and does a classic bisque with a lobster dumpling with a Chantilly Cream. Looked very good.
Dustin (from Toronto) has rack of lamb, he presents a nice dish with very interesting sides.
Francois is very happy to have a French challenge, he did study in France. He prepares curry dusted frog legs much to the delight of the judges.
Rob (from Toronto) wins with his sweet breads with a garlic puree and the judges loved it.
The middle was:
Dale, who has worked with guest judge Daniel Boulud, prepares oysters - 3 ways. His ego, so far, exceeds his talent.
Patrick does a duet of rabbit, it is a much improved dish for him but a bit peppery.
The bottom dishes were:
Darryl’s skate appears to have a very heavy hand with the lemon. He continues to be inconsistent.
Todd relieved to have Francois swap with him ends up with hazel nuts, he makes a classic Tarte Tatin, he uses store bought puff pastry and ice cream. And he did not present it upside down as it should be.
Andrea is makes a horse meat tartar - does not sound very appetizing to me. It fails due to temperature and bad choice of cracker. One judge calls it a bore.
Chris makes a Torchon with the foie gras, which according to the chefs and judges, is impossible to make in the allotted time. Darryl gives a lot of help with prep, but doesn’t give up too much info. Chris stands by his dish but it fails and he is sent home.
So how does Top Chef Canada compare to it’s American counterpart? Well so far there seems to be less drama between the contestants, which I like. It is a cooking show, not a Housewives show. So far there is no taking sides (no blonds vs. brunettes), there is no lying or backstabbing (a la Jill Zarin), there is not a self proclaimed kitchen etiquette expert (no Kitchen Countess), and no overt craziness (no space cadet Kelly). (This was a nod to the IHJZ blog.) There seems to be a lot of talent on this show and I look forward to see what is in store for us in future episodes.
Next weeks episode has the chefs developing a dish for Milestones (a Canadian chain restaurant), it appears that the competition is starting to cause a bit of stress for the Cheftestants.
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