Paul and his big balls choose the ghost chili, the super hot one. He was in the bottom on the last challenge and he wants to show the judges that he's willing to take chances. Beverly notices that she's the only one who didn't cook her chili, which worries her. Everything worries Beverly. Richie tastes his dish and it's not that spicy. Since they were supposed to feature the pepper, that could be a problem. Aaaaaand, time's up! Hope no one touched their eyes (or other parts - I heard a horror story about a couple that cooked spicy food and then had sexy fun times together and... I'm sure you can fill in the blanks) before washing their hands!
The judges go to Beverly first; she made Anaheim chili crudite with ssamjang paste. So... she didn't really cook anything? She cut and mixed? I don't know if the paste is cooked, I guess. Sarah made salmon belly seared with Fresno chili relish. Richi made Fresno slaw with pineapple curd and seared bay scallops. After the judges taste his food, they cut to Dakota making a serious stink face, like someone just farted in her general direction. It made me laugh. Chris Moto made his version of a Buffalo wing, seared chicken with Manzano vinaigrette.
Sidebar about Chris Moto: he has on glasses, and then a bandanna around his head, and also sunglasses in his hair. I am opposed to so much head gear. I had a chat with a Twitty buddy, Amy, about it this week and she said that maybe he needs a sparkly barrette to hold back his hair instead, and I said that it should say MOTO in rhinestones because then maybe he could stop talking about it so much. Also, this week he has his hair in a ponytail on top of his head, so now the bandanna and the sunglasses are really serving no purpose.
Chris Hollywood made coconut soup with Thai chili, which sounds delicious. Heather made date and pistachio couscous with pickled cucumbers, red onions, and Thai chili. Seems complicated. Chuy has to tell the judges both that his dad grew habaneros and that he owes money to the IRS. They're like, "Oh, okay" in that way that means, "Shut up and talk about the food." He made sautéed scallop with achiote using his beloved habaneros. Grayson made a habanero popper with cream lime sauce. So it's basically something from the Chili's menu. Nyesha made charred baby fennel and rock shrimp salad with orange habanero vinaigrette. She calls it a composition instead of a salad, because she's fancy. Paul admits that he used the ghost pepper for the money and for the challenge; he made chilled coconut soup with Kaffir lime and ghost pepper relish. Kind of the same dish that Chris Hollywood made, but ballsier.
The judges talk about how some of the cheftestants were a little wimpier than others. Their least favorites were Beverly, because she did nothing really, Richie, because his dish was too sweet and they couldn't taste the heat of the pepper, and Chuy, because he used canned tomato and it overpowered the taste of the chile. Chuy feels like crap, probably because he was exposed as kind of a fraud.
The judges' favorites were Heather, because her dish had heat and flavor, Grayson, because she used a whole pepper and showcased it, and Paul, for having balls and making a delicious dish. I figured they just threw Paul in there to reward his gutsiness, but then Paul wins! And he claims that this win is going to give him confidence for the Elimination Challenge. Maybe because he now has immunity.
So now that immunity is sorted, Padma announces the Elimination Challenge: the cheftestants will participate in a chili cook-off. They are randomly divided into one of five teams. Nyesha is immediately annoyed to be grouped with Richie (annoying) and Beverly (meek), and worries she'll have to carry them on her back. Well, she doesn't suffer from low self-esteem. I'm not sure how being annoying or meek makes one a bad chef. Mary Sue tells them that this challenge will test their cooking skills but also their skill at team dynamics. Chris Hollywood says he's worried about being on a team with Sarah (and Chuy), since Sarah's team imploded in the last challenge and Sarah seemed very willing to let Keith go down with the ship.
Padma introduces the twist -- you didn't think they'd just be cooking a pot of chili, right? There is no clock for this competition, because chili takes a long time to cook. They'll be cooking at their house, overnight, and have to be ready to serve by 7 PM the day. And they'll be serving at the Tejas Rodeo, where the cowboys and rodeo-goers will choose the winning team. Sarah explains that her dad was a bullrider so she grew up going to rodeos and knows what they like, which seems to boil down to "a lot of meat."
Shopping! Multiple cheftestants run into the grocery store and go right to the meat counter for brisket. Paul seems to get there first and asks for thirty pounds of brisket. Ty-Lor is right behind him. Beverly is trying to be cute when asking for help, which is super annoying. Surprise -- the meat counter doesn't stock unlimited supply of brisket, so someone isn't going to get as much as they need or want. And that someone seems to be Dakota, who claims that she was the first one at the counter. Anyway, when she realizes that she isn't going to get enough brisket, she asks for short ribs instead.
Chris Hollywood and Sarah are at the checkout, and he's worried that they won't have enough money for their ingredients. Sarah starts piling the ingredients for cornbread on the belt, and Chris snaps at her that they don't have enough money for that. Sarah says that she's just putting it on the belt, near the back, and once they see how much money they have left, they can decide if they want to buy it. Chris Hollywood interviews that Sarah rubs him the wrong way and he's "starting to see the bitchy side of her." That's bitchy? I think Chris Hollywood might have a problem with women who know what they want. I think Sarah can probably be annoying, but I don't know about bitchy. It's not like she's insisting that they buy her stuff even if it means skipping a chili ingredient or two. He needs to calm down. Ed and Heather are working together better -- they both agree to put their ingredients on the belt in order of importance, meat first. Ed is worried that they won't have enough food to feed all of the cowboys.
They arrive home at 3:49 PM, so it's about fifteen hours until service. They all immediately run into the kitchen and start grabbing what they need. Nyesha manages to grab all of the beer. Hope the other teams bought their own! I think Beverly yells out that no one should grab her breastmilk. I doubt anyone was going to, Beverly. Calm down, over there. What would they mistake it for? Milk...for their chili?
Chris Moto goes outside and sets up a rack in the giant outdoor fireplace, because he knows that he wants the meat to have a smoky flavor. Edward is right behind him, and claims the right side of the fireplace while Chris has claimed the left. Others are putting signs on various grills to claim them. Grayson comes outside and sees that there's no space left in the fireplace, so she tries to barter with Chris Moto for a spot. She offers him a sheet pan, but then says that she needs it back. Chris is willing to barter but he needs to think about his plan of attack and figure out how he can accommodate her.
The Green Team (Chris Hollywood, Chuy and Sarah) are cooking and discussing their service plan. They decide that they need a girl to sell to all of the cowboys, and Sarah assures them that she can do it since her dad was a bullrider. Sarah thinks that their group has plenty of charisma. Um, has she met Chuy? He kind of has anti-charisma.
The Red Team (Whitney, Chris Moto and Dakota) are prepping in the kitchen. They plan to braise their brisket and short ribs. It looks like Chris is making a custom spice rub first, and they plan to be up all night since braising is a low and slow kind of cooking technique.
Team Black (Nyesha, Beverly and Richie) are planning on making a mole chili, which they realize is different from what everyone else is doing. Nyesha explains that she's prepping the vegetables now, and plans to cook them down and use them to flavor the rest of the chili. They seem to be getting along well, despite Nyesha's earlier dire predictions.
It's now 7:40 PM at the house. Teams are grilling meat and dicing vegetables. And who should arrive but Mr. Tom Collichio! Nyesha explains their chili plan of attack, which involves chocolate. Not unheard of. Nyesha also adds that she has minimal experience with chili. That's not a red flag or anything.
Colicchio moves on to talk to Team White (Ty-Lor, Grayson and Lindsay), who are tending to their meat by the fire. They explain that they rubbed their meat in a spice rub and are smoking it to try to extract as much flavor as possible from the meat for their chili. Tom asks about secret ingredients but obviously, those are secret! So they can't talk about it!
Team Blue (Heather, Edward and Paul) is up for questioning. They are also cooking brisket and short ribs. We never did get a resolution to the Great Brisket Shortage of '11, did we? Did they just decide to divvy up the brisket and everyone also got short ribs? Did some people not get brisket? Who knows? Anyway, Heather interviews that, while Tom won't be choosing the winner, he will be deciding who goes home, so they want him on their side. She explains their recipe, and adds that they're going to use pickled peaches. Tom is perplexed and asks, "What's that all about?" So now Heather is all freaked out about using peaches. Also, she really loves to pickle things. It's Top Chef, not Top Pickle. Someone please say that this season.
Now it's 10:48 PM and people are getting punchy. And drunk. Punch-drunk and also drink-drank-drunk. Chuy is dancing, others are swimming and Chris Moto is star-gazing. And everyone is cooking. Chris Hollywood interviews that Chuy has to be reminded that the beer is for the chili and not his belly. And he also says that Chuy likes to tell lots of stories about how awesome he is. Yeah, I get that about Chuy. He's that little puny guy who comes from a big family and didn't get enough attention from mommy and daddy so he feels the need to tell embellished stories about his adventures so everyone will know how awesome he is. I know a guy like that. He's a big one-upper. Everything you've done, he did it also, but faster, earlier and better, and he's going to tell you ALLLLLLLL about it. Exhausting.
Time passes and it's 1:16 AM. Chris Moto explains that chili tastes better the longer you cook it, and he'd like to sleep but it's not possible. At 3:16 AM, Team Black (Nyesha, Beverly and Richie) have finished their chili. It's done. That doesn't seem right. Everyone else is still cooking. I'm a little worried that they chose to be done so early. Anyway, they all taste it and think it tastes great. Team White has decided to stay up all night and cook. Ty-Lor claims he's sleeping at his cooking board. At 5:12 AM, Sarah heads off to take a shower and hit the bed for a few hours. Some others follow suit but Chris Moto is going to stay up all night and pick cilantro or some shit. You know he's the kind of guy who will totally be a martyr about it, like if his team loses, he'll say, "Well, I thought we should all stay up all night and babysit the chili, but everyone else went to sleep. I SUFFERED FOR MY ART!"
The morning, Sarah feels tired after only a few hours of sleep but some people didn't even sleep (Chris Moto). Since they don't even serve until 7:00 PM, it's going to be a loooooong day. They all suit up and head to the rodeo.
They arrive at the rodeo and run to their stations, where they have been provided with cowboy hats. Sarah explains that they have an hour until service, so they have time to heat up their chili slowly and make sure it gets hot without scorching. Edward is on reheat duty for Blue Team and his strategy is to have two pots, one on high and one on low. As the chili gets hot, he transfers it to the low heat pot so it will stay warm. He hopes to avoid scorching the chili this way, and Ty-Lor yells out that he's a genius.
Richie and the Black Team are constantly tasting and adjusting flavors in their chili. Richie explains that he made the cornbread, so he feels like he'll have something concrete to point to as far as contributions to the final product. Ty-Lor is trying to cheer Lindsay up, because he thinks she's way too serious. He explains that he's really looking forward to interacting with people, because it's one of his strengths. Edward adds a ton of something (hot sauce?) to their chili and Paul tastes it and says it's good. Meanwhile, Whitney is concerned that Team Red's chili is too hot. Their brisket looks very, very stringy, especially compared to all of the other teams' chili. So I don't know if she should be just worried about the heat.
The cowboys and other guests arrive at the cook-off. They all pick up and eat chili. The teams do their best to get the cowboys to vote for them. A big selling point is that the chili doesn't have any beans, since that's the Texas way. Over at Team Black, Nyesha is worried that their chili might be a little too complex for the cowboy palate, since it's very different from a typical chili.
All three people run into the kitchen and start cooking. The music really goes into drama overdrive as they struggle to come up with one more dish. Nyesha says that she's having to draw upon reserves that she didn't know she had. Richie thinks the other two look bewildered, but he's focused. He's coating some pork tenderloin in Fritos, and he thinks that will be unique. After struggling to come up with a plan, Beverly strains the chili and uses the liquid part as a sauce with some seared tuna. Nyesha basically combines those two idea and uses the liquid as a sauce with some Frito-encrusted shrimp. Well, she also borrowed her Quickfire dish. So I don't know how original it was, but I also don't know that it matters as long as it tastes good.
The other cheftestants all sit outside and discuss how happy they are to not be cooking. Chris Moto is worried for Richie, since they are Moto buddies, and he thinks Richie is an all-around good guy. Meanwhile, time is up for the losers, and they have to take their plates out to the judges. Nyesha is worried that she didn't put enough sauce on her plate, but it's too late now.
So here are the dishes they present: Beverly makes seared tuna with habanero creamed corn. The chili has become a sauce upon which everything else sits. Nyesha makes Frito-encrusted black tiger shrimp with roasted corn salsa. The only evidence of the chili is a tiny smear on the plate, so yeah, I'd say she didn't use enough sauce. I mean, she basically made a whole other dish. Richie made a Frito-encrusted pork tenderloin, potato hash and ricotta cheese chili puree. I guess he used the chili in the puree; again, it's a tiny part of the overall plate.
The judges talk about the dishes. Susan was disappointed that Richie's dish lacked seasoning, and Tom agrees that it was one-note. Padma points out that Richie did a lot in thirty minutes, since his dish has multiple components. Gail liked Nyesha's shrimp, but wanted more sauce. Tom is disappointed that she just shaved some raw corn off the cob and didn't add any dressing or sauce or anything. Mary Sue thinks that Richie and Nyesha seemed embarrassed about the mole, while Beverly reimagined it and also showed off her culinary skills. I wish they judges had been able to tell the losing team WHY they were the losing team. It wasn't that their mole was bad; it's just that it was mole instead of chili. The judges like that Beverly changed the flavor profile.
As they wait, Beverly interviews that she's worried about this dish, and she doesn't want to go home yet. Richie went through a lot of trials and tribulations and doesn't want to leave yet, and his buddy Chris Moto massages his shoulders to give him encouragement. But the judges have reached a decision, so it's time to find out who's going home.
Weird interstitial. The judges get loopy and decide they are assholes for making the cheftestants cook again when they're exhausted.
Richie, Beverly and Nyesha face the judges. It kind of takes the drama out of it when the judges are sitting at a picnic table with a checkerboard cloth instead of their usual Panel of Judgment. Tom starts out by telling Beverly that she did a great job turning the dish into something else, and she's safe. Tom tells Nyesha that her dish was good, but the chili seemed like an afterthought and that was the point of the challenge. Tom tells Richie that he had a great idea but that dish didn't come together and was one-note. All three of them look really exhausted. Padma tells Richie to pack his knives and go. He puts his head down and pouts his lips out like one of my two-year-olds.
He barely holds it together as he leaves the judges and when he walks back to the other cheftestants, he loses it and sobs, "It's me!" Chris Moto hugs him and Richie cries that he didn't get to show what Moto can do and he's sorry. Richie interviews that you can prepare for the cooking but you can't prepare for the emotional toll it takes. Chris interviews that Richie is a great chef and has a great future. Richie hopes that Chris goes far in the competition. Poor Richie. He was kind of a dope, but he was very obviously sad when he left, and it seemed sincere. It was kind of hard to watch. Anyway, now Richie has to go battle Keith in the Last Chance Kitchen! And week, the cheftestants head to Dallas.