Who Shot JR?

Recapped by Kim · Aired 12-07-2011 · S09E06

Quickfire Challenge: The challenge is to make a new sauce based on an assigned one of the five mother sauces (béchamel, espagnole, veloute, tomate, and hollandaise). The tops are Grayson, who made a ravioli, Chris Hollywood, who made a seafood-infused veloute, and Paul, who made quail and okra. The winner is Grayson, because the guest judge thought she cooked her sauce to perfection.

Elimination Challenge: Work as a team to create a four-course steak dinner for 200 cattle ranchers at Southfork Ranch, Dallas-style. Beverly, Dakota, and Sarah are making gazpacho for the first course. Edward, Chris Moto, and Paul are making a steak carpaccio for the second course. For the third course, Ty-Lor is making the steaks, Chris Hollywood is doing the greens, Nyesha is doing the compound butter and sauce, and Whitney (who?) is doing potato gratin. Did I mention I sliced off part of my thumb a few weeks ago making potato gratin? Bad times. Don't do that, Whitney. And then Heather, Grayson, and Lindsay are doing the dessert course, and they also organize everything on service day.

During prep, people are concerned that Beverly is working too slowly and that Whitney isn't cooking her potatoes ahead of time. There is some question, though, of whether Beverly is taking a long time or if Heather is just a bully. And then Ty cuts his hand, so they have to regroup and try to figure out who will take charge of the steaks if Ty can't do it. Ty ends up getting four stitches and is up all night waiting in the emergency room. And then the day, he is grilling two hundred steaks to medium rare all by himself. I don't know why no one is helping him, frankly. It seems pretty important.

Here are the official dish titles:

1st Course (Sarah, Beverly, Dakota): tomato-watermelon gazpacho, poached shrimp, and avocado mousse. The judges think it's well-seasoned and the shrimp is well-cooked, but the dish is a little bit safe.

2nd Course (Edward, Chris Moto, Paul): New York strip steak carpaccio, heirloom tomato salad, vinaigrette, and mushroom "bacon". The judges don't love the tomatoes, but think the steak is good. Overall, they wanted something a little more.

3rd Course (Ty-Lor, Chris Hollywood, Nyesha, and Whitney): Grilled rib-eye with potato gratin, braised greens, and compound butter. The steaks are grilled by Ty and then flashed in the oven, but Lindsay gets nervous and flashes the steaks too early, so they end up sitting around for too long and get cold and overcooked. The gratin is undercooked. They like the butter and the sauce, so Nyesha's cool.

4th Course (Heather and Lindsey): "Right Side Up" Texas peach cake, peach salad, and candied pecan streusel. The judges think the cake is fine, but disagree over whether it's sweet enough or not.

The judges decide that Heather is the winner. Maybe she should have anticipated that before she bitched out Beverly in the Stew Room as they waited to hear from the judges. Now she just looks like more of an asshole. Especially since she used Edward's recipe and didn't give him any credit.

The bottom three are Ty-Lor, Whitney, and Edward. Ty-Lor is ultimately responsible for the steaks, which were unevenly cooked. Whitney's gratin was heavy and undercooked in parts, and really boring, she has no excuse for that. Edward's tomato salad was boring, and the judges felt it was emblematic of the meal as a whole – they didn't take any risks. The judges eliminate Whitney. And seriously, plain potato gratin with no extra flavors? Or SOMETHING? I guess that's why she was invisible most of the time – she was going home, so why bother getting to know her.

After Chuy's elimination, the cheftestants are back at their suite, hanging out on the balcony. The guys are hanging out, smoking, and the ladies are in a separate group. One of the guys notes that they are outnumbered by the women, and they need to step it up. Please don't give the producers any ideas for a Men Vs. Women season. Chris Moto points out that he doesn't care about gender or whatever; he just wants to concentrate on making good food. Great point, Chris Moto. But you might also want to concentrate on a new hairstyle, because that topknot business is the pits.

Quickfire Challenge. The cheftestants enter the kitchen and find Padma, who introduces their guest judge Dean Fearing. Heather gives the requisite talking head about how he's awesome and respected and classically trained. Can we just assume by now that every guest judge is a culinary genius and save ourselves those thirty seconds? Paul interviews that he went to school at the Cordon Bleu, where they are cooking, so he's very familiar with the kitchen, but he feels like it's almost more pressure because everyone assumes he has an advantage and will do well. Well, I guess better that attitude than being cocky.

Dean Fearing is the most chipper guy ever. He reminds me of Huell Howser. Look him up on YouTube if you don't get the reference. Anyway, Padma explains that, in this challenge, they will test their skills as sauciers. Fearing explains that this is the most prestigious position on the line, and Nyesha interviews that she would love to be a saucier, because it's artistry. Grayson interviews that she's not worried because she's worked as a saucier and she's classically trained. They draw knives to learn which of the mother sauces they'll be using (béchamel, espagnole, Hollandaise, tomate, and veloute). Once the sauces are assigned, Padma explains that the challenge is to make a new sauce based on their mother sauce. The winner gets immunity.

Chris Hollywood says that he's starting by making his roux (butter and flour), which is the base of many of the mother sauces. It's true; make a bad roux and you make a bad sauce. I have burned my roux and had to start over so many times. Grayson says that she's feeling saucy. Get it? Paul says he has espagnole, which is beef or veal stock-based, and he's adding lemongrass and ginger. He's concerned, since he hasn't made a mother sauce since culinary school. Ed has béchamel, which can be kind of bland all on its own but takes on other flavors really easily. He's adding in a vegetable, in the form of cauliflower. I don't know about that one. Wouldn't you want something with a stronger flavor? It's all so...white. Beverly has espagnole and she explains that she's taking a risk by making it avant garde, but she doesn't explain how she's doing that exactly.

Dakota is excited to have béchamel, because she loves it, and she's making it with scallops. The problem is that she put her scallops on too early so she runs the risk of them getting cold and also overcooking since they will continue to cook as they sit there. Grayson was confident starting out, but now she's worried about the number of elements she has to plate, and if she'll run out of time. Padma calls time and Grayon did manage to plate her food how she wanted.

Time to eat! Chris Hollywood had veloute, and made butter-poached halibut over mussels, andouille, mushrooms and veloute. He cooked his andouille and mushrooms together and used that to make the sauce. Ed had béchamel, and he made cauliflower milk béchamel with poached red snapper, crab and fried oyster. I've never had béchamel with fish, though it seems common. Grayson had Hollandaise and she made scallop, charred corn sauce, corn ravioli and blueberry balsamic reduction. That's a weird mix of flavors, but I'd like to try it.

Moving on to Paul, he had espagnole, and he made quail with pickled and roasted mushrooms, garlic scapes and okra. Fearing asks what color his roux was, and Paul says he didn't use one. This is clearly a mistake according to Fearing, and Paul wonders if he should have lied. Whitney (who?) had tomate, and she made pached shrimp, fennel pilau, sautéed okra and pancetta. She also skipped the roux, and she gets the soundtrack BONG of disapproval. I've never used a roux in a tomato sauce (and frankly, it sounds kind of gross) but I'm not classically trained, and that is the classic way to do it. Heather had béchamel, and she made gruyere croquette, apple and ginger compote and Asian slaw. Basically, her dish looks like fried cheese balls and coleslaw over apple sauce. Beverly had espagnole and she made a crab maki roll with rib eye, charred shallots, peppercorn, sake and red wine. So she made sushi with a classical sauce. Ballsy? Heather points out that Bev always cooks Asian food. She really does. I get that you want to cook YOUR food, but if that's all she can cook, she needs to step it up.

They are showing a lot more Quickfire dishes than usual. Anyway, Dakota had béchamel, and she made peach-infused béchamel, seared scallop, truffle, and lemon crab. Fearing notes that her béchamel tastes like Hollandaise, which seems weird because that really shouldn't be true. Ty had Hollandaise and made Hollandaise with lemongrass and citrus zest, ahi tuna and baby bok choy. Nyesha had tomate and she made tomate sauce with coconut ras el hanout and braised lentils. That actually sounds really good. Although it looks like there is a piece of salmon on her plate that she didn't mention?

Dean Faring says that there were some sauces that were too sweet, and some that were too acidic, but overall the seasonings were good. His three least favorite were as follows: Dakota, because the peach was overpowering; Nyesha, because she had too many flavors and it was muddled; and Beverly, because she didn't do a good job incorporating the mother sauce, but added her own wasabi instead.

So who did Fearing like? He loved Grayson's dish, especially that she made a ravioli. He was impressed that Chris Hollywood added the poaching liquids back into the sauce for additional flavor. And he thought Paul's combination of ingredients and flavors was perfect. So who is the winner? The person who used the mother sauce creatively and cooked every element to perfection was...Grayson! So she has immunity and Dean Fearing gives her a double thumbs up and a "Whoo!" I love him. Grayson feels like she's proven herself, since she barely made it into the competition in the first place. I had completely forgotten about that, but good for her.

Padma goes on to introduce the Elimination Challenge, which is going to be about steak. They have to work as one team to cook a four-course steak dinner for two hundred guests. Ty interviews that he worked in a NYC steakhouse for two years, so he has a lot of experience cooking steak, but not for two hundred people at a time. Padma adds that they have to incorporate steak into two of the four courses, and they'll be serving at the Cattle Barons' Ball. Sarah knows about that, since her grandfather was a member. Dean Fearing cautions them to pull the steaks off when they are medium rare, and don't overcook them. Padma is delighted to tell them that they'll be serving at Southfork Ranch. Everyone under the age of 35 is like, "Whuh?" It's where the Ewings from Dallas lived. You know, JR? Bobby? Jock? Miss Ellie? Blank stares all around. Heather jokes around that her family watched Dynasty, so she doesn't know who shot JR. It was Kristin. And then she was found floating dead in the pool. We were a Dallas family. And as an added bonus, the winner of this challenge gets a new car.

Menu planning time begins, and everyone is shouting. Paul takes charge and suggests that they split up into groups by course, and everyone divides themselves. The first course will be soup, and Sarah, Beverly and Dakota will be working on that. They are thinking of doing a gazpacho, which seems mostly like Dakota's idea. Edward takes on the role of secretary to coordinate between all four groups, at least during the planning phase. He confirms that the second course will use sirloin and the third course will be ribeye steaks, thus meeting the requirements of the challenge. The dessert group (Heather, Lindsay, Grayson) is making a cake. In fact, Heather is making the same cake she used at the Quincenera. Turns out it's actually Ed's cake recipe, and he's a little peeved that she's using it again. I don't know. It's just a basic cake recipe, and she didn't have one memorized. She's obviously going to do something different with it. And if he's so cheesed off, he could make the dessert. No one wants to make dessert, because they usually suck on this show. I don't see the big deal.

I wish there was a song we could all sing during the Whole Foods shopping segment. It might make everything a little more interesting. Kind of like when you make up words for instrumental songs during opening credits. Like I made up on for St. Elsewhere when I was a kid where I basically sang the opening credits to the tune. It started, "Where are you going to? Where are you going to? Where are you going to, it's St. Else. Where!" I didn't say it was good. I was like ten. I probably shouldn't have been watching that show in the first place. I remember being really scared of the rapist (although I don't think I knew what rape was) and then the actor was on that show about Vietnam and I couldn't watch it because he scared me so much. So anyway, that's what I think about the Whole Foods segment. What cracks me up about the end of this segment is that the whole time, they're talking about how much food they need to cook for two hundred people, and they're trying to find more potatoes and more onions and then when they walk out, each cheftestant is carrying one bag with like three things in it. Disconnect.

Back in the kitchen, they have three hours to prep. Sarah, Beverly and Dakota are making a watermelon-tomato gazpacho. They feel like a cold soup will be a good light first course, since the middle two courses both feature beef, which can be heavy. Ed, Chris Moto and Paul are making a seared beef carpaccio salad for the second course. The third course has been broken up into components: Ty is handling the steaks, Chris Hollywood is making Brussels sprouts, Nyesha is doing the compound butter and the sauce, and Whitney is making potatoes gratin. I note that the steaks were purchased already cut, so Ty has no control over how thick they are. Let's hope the butcher was consistent. Whitney has already sliced the potatoes for her gratin; I'm not sure how she plans to keep them from oxidizing, but that's her problem, I guess.

Everyone is deep into prep. Beverly is cleaning shrimp for poaching and Heather feels like she's taking too much time to do so. I don't know what else she has to do; if the shrimp is her only contribution, why not take your time with it? Is she holding Heather up? Can Heather not bake her cake until Beverly is done with the shrimp? I just don't see why Heather cares. Ed is worried about Whitney's potatoes, and he and Heather both think she should cook them tonight. Whitney stands firm that she's cooking them tomorrow. It's not clear whether it's a time issue or she just doesn't want to cook the potatoes ahead. They would be super mushy if they sit, cooked, overnight. I think she just made the wrong decision; there have to be better potato dishes to make over a two-day span. Like she could have done an upscale twice-baked potato. I just love twice-baked potatoes, so I might be biased. But if she used some fancy ingredients and interesting flavor combinations, I think it could have worked. But just a straight potato gratin seems boring and risky.

And then Ty stabs himself with a knife, accidentally. The cut is between his first and second fingers, right in the webbing, and it's bleeding a lot. He's totally calm about it. The medic tells him that he's going to need stitches, and he decides to just wrap it up and finish prep (there are less than fifteen minutes left) and then deal with it later.

Time is up for the day, and everyone goes back to the suite, except Ty, who heads to the Emergency Room. The rest of the group gathers in their living room to talk about their backup plan, in case Ty can't cook tomorrow. No one seems to step up to take over the steaks, claiming that they have too much to do. Do they really need three people on dessert? I mean, aren't they just making a cake? Lindsay interviews that she's frustrated that no one is stepping up, but things went so wrong on the last team challenge (when Keith was eliminated) that she understands why people are hesitant.

The morning, Ty has returned. He was in the Emergency Room until 6 AM, and he got four stitches. He had to wait a long time because gunshot victims were coming in and getting in ahead of him. So he has no sleep and is probably exhausted, but he knows that he needs to step it up and compete.

The cheftestants drive to Southfork and there is the most hilarious off-brand version of the Dallas theme song. It sounds enough like it that you know what they were going for, but it's totally janky and ridiculous. Heather interviews that she finished baking the cakes last night, so she and Lindsay are doing all of the non-food preparation, like getting the plates ready and setting up the tables they'll need. She's also going down the checklist and making sure everything is happening in a timely fashion. So what is Grayson doing?

Chris Moto is in charge of searing the sirloin for their salad, and he's grilling the steaks and then shocking them so they don't get overcooked. Whitney is working on getting her potatoes in the oven, but first she has to take out the potatoes that oxidized. Did she not know that would happen? I'm very confused about Whitney's entire process.

Hey, were you wondering what's going on with Beverly's shrimp? Because Heather sure is concerned about it. She orders Beverly to start poaching the shrimp that are ready while she cleans the other ones, which makes sense, but why is it Heather's problem? Or she could offer to help, if she's so concerned, right? Dakota interviews that Heather is really obnoxious and kind of a bully. Thank you, Dakota. Good to know I'm not crazy here. I would be annoyed by Beverly's slowness, but if it wasn't affecting my dish, I would keep it to myself. What's the worst that could happen? She doesn't finish in time? It takes like two minutes to poach shrimp. And if her dish fails, then she goes home. What's the downside?

By Kim

I really don't get their method for cooking these steaks. Ty has charred them on the grill so that they all have grill marks. And then the steaks were...just sitting on the counter in trays? Wouldn't they continue to cook from the heat? So now the plan is to stick them in really hot ovens for a few minutes to finish cooking them. I don't know. Anyway, Lindsay gets nervous that they haven't started flash cooking the steaks yet, and keeps asking around to see if anyone else cares. No one wants to step up and say yes or no, so she finally just corrals Ed, Chris Moto and Paul and gets them to help her start cooking the steaks. Oh, I guess after marking them, Ty is putting them in ice baths to stop the cooking process. But wouldn't that affect the flavor? This whole process is weird.

So anyway, after all that hustle and bustle, they bring the finished steaks out and Heather's like, "We can't start plating yet. The diners are still eating the second course." That's information that might have been helpful FIVE MINUTES AGO! Why didn't Heather tell them that when Lindsay was asking her if they should start cooking the steaks? This is all fucked up. It's either Lindsay's fault for going rogue or Heather's fault for not speaking up. Poor Ed is back in the kitchen throwing pans in the oven and Chris Hollywood comes back and tells him to stop, because they haven't even plated the ones they have finished previously. Heather says that they should get the steaks ready to flash and then someone tells her that they've already been flashed. Ty brings in his latest rack of steaks and finds out that the inside teams screwed up and now his steaks are going to be overcooked.

Finally, it's time to plate the third course. Ed is worried that the steaks are cold, and then he points out that the gratin is a mess. I don't know what Whitney was planning, but she's struggling to cut her gratin. She should use a biscuit cutter and make little circles of potato. Nyesha puts her compound butter and the sauce over the steaks, and worries that her elements will be allowed to shine on their own and not be lumped in with the terrible meat.

Nyesha presents the third course and explains that Ty-Lor grilled the rib-eye. Whitney made the potato gratin, Chris Hollywood made the braised Brussels sprouts and she made the compound butter. The diners like the Brussels sprouts. The judges discover that the steaks are cooked unevenly. Another things that's cooked unevenly is the gratin. There is nothing worse than biting into an uncooked potato. Yuck. Luckily for Nyesha, the judges like the compound butter and the sauce very much.

And finally, it's time for the fourth course, dessert. Heather interviews that she hopes the judges understand that they tried to go light on the dessert because the two courses were pretty heavy. Lindsay, Grayson and Heather made a "Right Side Up" Texas peach cake, peach salad and candied pecan streusel. I don't know why it took three people to make this dessert, though, and I don't know what Grayson was doing while Heather and Lindsay were expediting today. Hugh doesn't think it's sweet enough, but Tom likes it because it's not too sweet. The diners are similarly divided, although no one hates it.

Summing up, Tom says that he thought the group played it way too safe, since they have thirteen chefs to serve two hundred people, and that gave them room to take some chances. Padma offers up a toast and they all leave. Back in the kitchen, Ty laments that they fired the steaks too early. He interviews that the most important element of this challenge was to serve two hundred steaks medium rare, and he failed at that, so he knows he'll be on the bottom. Whitney tells someone that her gratin was a little loose and the sauce broke down a bit, but she hopes that the judges think it highlighted the beef, but she also knows that she might end up at judges' table.

Weird Interstitial. Beverly tells Edward that she basically stalked his restaurant one time. Because she's awkward and weird.

Stew Room. Heather wants to talk about what went wrong. In other words, Heather wants to set up a narrative so that everyone knows who to blame for everything, and she wants to make sure that she's in charge of that narrative. Ty admits that he's ultimately responsible for the steaks being bad, even though he was running on an hour's sleep. Heather isn't interested in taking out Ty, because they're friends, so she tries to pin it on Beverly, saying that she could've done more. How did Beverly's slow shrimp cleaning affect the steaks, which were the biggest problem? If she had been faster, she would have what? Spoken up and told Lindsay not to cook them yet? I doubt it. Shut it, Heather. She adds that she and Lindsay are on the line, because they were in charge of execution. Maybe Heather should save her bitching until they find out who's in the top and bottom, huh?

Padma comes in and asks to see Nyesha, Heather and Chris Moto. They are the judges' top three. Boy, are they relieved to hear that. They have a group hug in celebration. Dean tells Chris that his steak was cooked perfectly, and Hugh says it was the shining star of that course. Tom tells Heather that her dessert was perfect and not overly sweet. Dean adds that it was very moist and perfectly cooked. Tom tells Nyesha that compound butter has kind of gone out of style, but it's still great when it's done well, and it saved the dish. Hugh liked the bright flavors and nuance, and it helped a steak that was "confused on the plate." Dean says that the winner made their favorite element of the dinner, and that's Heather. See, Heather? Maybe you should have saved your blame-assignment. Anyway, Heather has won a car, so she's thrilled.

When they get back in the Stew Room, Heather asks if anyone wants to ride in her new car. Way to read the room, Heather. They're all terrified and you're gloating. Anyway, the bottom three are Ty, Whitney and Edward. Whitney reminds us that Hugh Acheson is her mentor so she's comforted to see him. Padma explains that the meal as a whole was underwhelming, and these three made the worst dishes. Tom complains that their dishes were either undercooked, inconsistent or boring, and he expected more.

They start with Ty, who knows that the steaks were overcooked. Tom explains that they were actually inconsistent. Tom wonders why they didn't just grill them. Ty says that he thinks their method could have worked if they had fired them at the right time, but he knows that the buck stops with him and he accepts responsibility. Moving on, Colicchio wonders why Whitney chose to make a gratin, which is pretty heavy, on such a hot day. Whitney thought it would highlight the steak. Padma tells her that Tom's was raw, and Whitney is upset and surprised. Dean wonders why she didn't notice that it was raw when she was cutting it. Tom tells Edward that the elements of his dish were fine, but boring, which is how Tom felt about the entire menu. Edward says that no one wanted to step on toes, so they all played it safe. Hugh wants someone to step up and execute a vision, and no one did.

The bottom three are excused. Back in the Stew Room, Ty says that he worked in a steak house for two years, so he should have done better, with no excuses. Whitney also knows she made a dumb mistake. The judges agree; Tom says that if one of his cooks took six hours to cook that gratin, they'd get canned. Dean thinks the dish is chef 101. Hugh knows that Whitney is assertive and can run a kitchen, so he doesn't know what happened. Tom can't figure out why Ty didn't grill the steaks to medium rare in one step. And they're all confused about what Edward was thinking with that blah dish, and wonder if he underestimated his diners.

The bottom three are back to face the judges and find out their fates. Tom tells Whitney that she played it safe and still messed up. Ed also played it safe and his dish wasn't worthy of the competition. Ty took on a lot of responsibility, but didn't follow through. Tom worries that they chose the wrong chefs for this competition. Tom is disgusted! He adds that it's usually tough to send someone home, but they made it easy tonight. Ouch. Padma tells Whitney to pack her knives and go. She's disappointed, especially because it's Hugh Acheson sending her home. Tom snipes after she's gone that if you can't put together a gratin in six hours, you don't deserve to be there. Whitney's exit interview is all about how she's happy for the opportunity and to meet such amazing chefs. And now she heads to Last Chance Kitchen to face off against Chuy.

By Kim

Weird Interstitial. Beverly tells Edward that she basically stalked his restaurant one time. Because she's awkward and weird.

By Kim