Mom's Home Cooking

Recapped by Kim · Aired 12-21-2011 · S09E08

Quickfire Challenge: After arriving in Austin, the cheftestants are challenged to cook something based on Twitter suggestions, with new suggestions coming in while they're cooking. So the first suggestion is that they have to cook something with bacon in it. Booooooooooo! Come on, Twitter. The second suggestion is to make a hash. The third suggestion is that each cheftestant chooses an ingredient and hands it off to someone else. The top three are Beverly, Sarah and Paul, and the winner of $10,000 but not immunity is Paul, who combined bacon, asparagus, blackberries, and clams and somehow made it work.

Elimination Challenge: Patti LaBelle shows up to sing a song and also serve as guest judge. The challenge is to make a dish inspired by their cooking inspirations, and who taught them how to cook. The judges are Patti, Tom, Padma and Emeril. And here are the dishes:

Chris Moto: Lemon-pepper steak with baked potato and vegetables, inspired by his grandmother's Friday night steak dinners. The judges don't love the meat, but do like the vegetables.

Heather: Beef stroganoff with herb spaetzle and roasted wild mushrooms, inspired by her mom, "the queen of one-pot meals." Emeril can't figure out what kind of beef it is, and Patti says it's Bigfoot. Oof.

Paul: quail adobo and ginger rice with green mango salsa, inspired by his Filipino grandmother, who taught him to cook. The judges like the use of mango and the seasoning.

Sarah: pork sausage stuffed cabbage and spinach with browned butter, inspired by her grandparents, who make stuffed cabbage and homemade sausage. The judges like the clean flavors.

Beverly: Korean braised short rib with edamame scallion puree and hon shimeji mushrooms, inspired by her mother. The judges think the meat is cooked well, and they like the texture and color in the presentation.

Chris Hollywood: sockeye salmon with confit potato and brown sugar glazed carrot puree. The judges don't like much about the dish; Tom says that there's too much going on and too many competing flavors.

Lindsay: trout spanakopita with crispy leeks and rainbow trout roe, inspired by her two grandmothers, one Greek and one Southern. The judges like the crispiness of the trout and the roe, but think there's too much butter.

Edward: modern bibimbap with lemon-chili sauce, inspired by his grandmother. The judges think it's authentic and delicious.

Grayson: grilled rib-eye steak with German potato salad and grilled vegetables, inspired by her parents and their meat and potatoes meals. She gives each diner a 12-oz steak, which is HUGE. The judges think the meat is stringy and gristly.

Ty-Lor: duck fat-fried chicken tender with pickled peaches, inspired by his Japanese nanny. I am so interested in his background. The judges think it's beautiful and love his story.

The top three are Sarah, Edward and Beverly, and the winner is Sarah.

The bottom three are Grayson, Heather and Chris Hollywood. Grayson's meat wasn't good, and the judges think she took her inspiration too literally instead of as a jumping-off point. Chris Hollywood cooked his salmon too quickly, and he had too many herbs and the pieces were too big. Heather also took it too literally; her dumplings were dry and overcooked, and her meat was tough. Heather says that she was scared to use the pressure cooker, and Tom can't resist jabbing her by saying that Beverly did use the pressure cooker and she did great. And then they send Heather home, after making her look like an asshole last week, so that's kind of harsh. But, as Beverly points out, Heather is going home for a dish that she conceived and created completely on her own, and there's some karmic justice in that.

Immediately after Nyesha and Dakota's departure, everyone stands around in the kitchen and looks depressed. And remember how Heather totally turned on Beverly in front of the judges for no real reason? So that's awkward. Beverly interviews that she thinks Heather crossed a line, and she mistakes Beverly's humility for meekness. But Beverly believes in karma. I wish that I did. I'm still waiting for some people to get theirs. As I'm sure others are waiting for me to get mine.

Padma walks into the kitchen and they're all like, "Oh, shit. Do we have to cook again RIGHT NOW?" But instead, Padma tells them that they're going to Austin. They all high five and cheer because everyone knows that Austin is the best city in Texas. Paul interviews that he feels more pressure now, since he's from Austin. Pressure to what? Know directions to the nearest Whole Foods?

The morning, the cheftestants pack up their two vehicles and hit the road. I find it interesting to see who went in which vehicle. Heather is driving one (of course, she probably bullied everyone into giving her the keys), and her passengers are Chris Moto, Sarah, Edward, and Lindsay. Chris Moto has a Flip cam and Edward is asking Heather questions about dudes and relationships. Heather admits that she's 40, and it's tough to have relationships because she works so much, but she jokes that she'd give up five thousand dollars and immunity for one night with John Besh. Besh? Really? He doesn't do it for me.

The other car contains Chris Hollywood, Paul, Grayson, Beverly, and Ty is driving. I would definitely rather be in that car. They seem a lot more fun. Anyway, they're also joking about who's the prettiest, and decide that it's Chris Hollywood.

They arrive at the Driskill, where they'll be staying. Paul interviews that he moved to Austin to change his lifestyle. He used to sell weed but then got robbed and realized that he was throwing his life away, so he decided to become a chef. Because God knows that chefs don't do drugs or drink. Or smoke. Or have other bad habits.

Quickfire! Tom is there with Padma, which makes everyone nervous because he usually doesn't show up for Quickfires. Padma explains that Twitter exploded at the SXSW Festival in Austin (I remember that!), so they're going to build a challenge around Twitter. The challenge is to follow instructions that fans of the show tweet to Tom and Padma. This could get weird. The winner gets cash, but not immunity.

By Kim

The first instruction is to cook a dish with bacon in it. Oh, Internet. So predictable. Chris Hollywood thinks this is a softball. Everyone grabs bacon and starts cooking things. Beverly cooks hers in a pressure cooker, even though she's never used one before. I'm so over the whole Internet bacon thing. I like bacon. It's good. Let's not get so crazy with it.

The instruction comes in, and they have to create a hash as part of their dish. Edward is worried about how he's going to incorporate that, because he had a perfectly planned dish. Well, he knew there were going to be twists. Maybe he shouldn't have planned something so specific that one change would ruin it. Grayson is cooking potato pancakes, because she's German and they're familiar, and she also thinks they can accommodate the twists of the challenge well. Beverly opens the pressure cooker and her bacon is done perfectly.

The final instruction comes in with fifteen minutes left. Tom tells them that each chef needs to pick an ingredient from the pantry and hand it off to another chef to be incorporated into their dish. Ooh, you could really screw someone over with this. Chris Hollywood gives Lindsay sriracha so she gives him maple syrup. Chris Moto and Beverly trade a lemon and some oil, which kind of seems like cheating, but the rule was pretty vague. Ty gives Ed some sriracha (popular!), and Ed is just annoyed. He's no fun. Someone gave Grayson a tomatillo, and with minutes to go, she purees it and uses it like a sauce. Her plate is a bit of a disaster. Annnnnd, time's up!

Beverly serves first: crisp pork belly with corn, bell pepper, habanero, and potato hash. Chris Moto serves corn puree with bacon, potato hash, and seared scallop. Tom tastes something salty and tries to figure out what it is. Needless to say, it's bad. Heather made smoked paprika quail with smoked bacon jam and leek hash. That's a lot of smoke. Ed made potato hash with bacon and softshell crab deglazed in sriracha. Padma wants to know who gave him the sriracha, so obviously it didn't work well in the dish. Which is kind of Ed's fault, for making such a specific dish when he knew there would be twists.

Sarah made burrata stuffed squash blossom with bacon and zucchini hash. Tom says that her bacon is crispy. Chris Hollywood made bacon-wrapped monkfish with potato, leek, and bacon hash. He jokes that Lindsay gave him maple syrup, but Tom thinks Chris made it work surprisingly well. Grayson made a shrimp puff with crispy bacon hash cake. Tom angrily asks why she's calling it a puff and Grayson says she wanted them to think it was light and fluffy, and Tom nods, so I guess that makes sense? Ty made maple-glazed bacon with bacon and kale hash. Paul made bacon several different ways: bacon fat, crispy bacon, blackberries, and chorizo and mushroom hash. Padma says it's "very interesting." Is that good or not? Paul's not sure.

Tom thought the food was pretty exciting overall, but he has to talk about the least successful dishes first. Grayson's puff was like a wet mousse, and she didn't use enough bacon. Chris Moto's was way too salty. Ed burned his hash and it was bitter, which threw the whole dish off.

Who were the standouts? Beverly's was subtle and well-cooked. Sarah's was also subtle with just enough bacon to give it smokiness. Also, Paul's was unusual and shouldn't work on paper but it totally did. So who wins? Paul! He's on a roll. Tom jokes that he should buy everyone a drink, and then says that seriously, they should all go to the hotel bar for a drink.

So they do! Ed notes that the men and women are all sitting separately and Chris Hollywood goes and sits between Grayson and Heather. They are kind of smooshing him. A piano player starts tinkling away and then announces that Patti Labelle is there to sing a song. Patti Labelle! She sings "Lady Marmalade" for them, of course. Because when you think of Austin, you think of...Patti Labelle? I guess they couldn't get Willie Nelson. Padma walks out and announces that she'll be their guest judge for this competition, and she's also a cookbook author. Padma asks Patti who taught her to cook, and Patti says that various relatives did, and they all had soul, which she promises has nothing to do with skin color.

So the challenge this week is to cook a dish inspired by the person that taught you to cook. Chris Moto talks about his grandmother, and he used to sit and talk to her while she cooked dinner. Sarah is already crying. Sarah talks about how she used to go to her grandparents' house and see how they made everything from scratch, and she gets emotional about it, knowing that they won't be around forever. Man, I thought Beverly was a crier. Sarah's giving her a run for her money lately.

Whole Foods! Shopping! Heather goes to the meat counter and gets some rib eye. Heather comes from a big family and she remembers her mom making beef stroganoff, along with other one-pot meals. So why is she buying rib eye? She should be buying something more like a roast or stew meat. Even I know that, and I'm a dummy. Chris Moto is cooking for his grandmother, who used to always cook steak dinners. Grayson was inspired by her parents, so she's making steak too, because her dad used to grill. She's a little concerned because all of the beef at the counter is very lean, and she wants more marbling, for a more tender steak. Ah, it probably won't matter, right?

The morning, the cheftestants get ready for the day. Grayson notices Beverly's photos on the mirror and asks about her kid (who was four months old in the photo - presumably he's older than that now). This leads to an interview where Beverly talks about how she misses her kid and her husband, and it's been hard because Heather has been bullying her, but she's trying to keep her eye on the prize. She tapes up her sign announcing that she won the show, which I still think is weird, but I guess if it inspires her, that's fantastic. The Chris' Hollywood and Moto are chatting and Chris Moto bends over and half of his bum is hanging out so Chris Hollywood says, "Crack kills." Heh.

Ty and Ed eat breakfast together. Ty talks about his Japanese housekeeper/nanny that he had growing up. I am fascinated by his backstory. Where did he come from? Okay, I thought they were eating breakfast, but one of them is having wine, so maybe not? Or maybe! Rock on, cheftestants with your day drinking. Ed talks about his grandmother, who used to cook a lot of vegetarian food because they couldn't afford meat. He interviews that she kept him from being a delinquent and ordered him to wash his hair or shave his stupid beard. I think Ed might need his grandmother to pay a visit; his current beard is pretty stupid.

The cheftestants head to the kitchen to prep. Paul is making adobo, inspired by his Filipino grandmother. I'm so impressed that all of these people have grandmothers that were such good cooks. I love both of my grandmothers, but neither of them were particularly great cooks. I'm kind of developing a crush on Paul. He's cute. Chris Hollywood says that he's "doing an homage" to his uncle and Grayson jokes that he said he was Amish. But actually, Chris Hollywood explains that his uncle taught him to fish and then clean and cook the fish they caught, because his mother wasn't a great cook.

Beverly was inspired by her mother. The family picture they show where Bev is like ten? Her facial expression looks exactly like Ramona Quimby. So Bev is making braised short ribs, but they don't have time to do a proper braise, so she's going to use the pressure cooker. I always get nervous when people use the pressure cooker but Bev pulled it off in the Quickfire, so maybe it will be okay. Sarah is combining dishes that her grandparents made: sausage from her grandfather and stuffed cabbage from her grandmother. I hope she doesn't start crying again. Heather is worried that her beef is getting spongy. Well, of course it is. It's rib eye. It's not meant to be cooked slowly in liquid. It should be seared or grilled or something. Heather interviews that she doesn't want to use the pressure cooker because she got dinged for it last time. Well, also, that's not a meat that will do well in the pressure cooker. It's unclear if Heather doesn't understand that, or if she is trying something new, or what is going on. I'm not sure how much is incompetence and how much is sort of a cavalcade of bad decisions.

By Kim

The diners and judges arrive. Emeril talks about how, if he were cooking in this challenge, he would make Portuguese kale soup, inspired by his mother. Chris Moto and Heather come out to serve first. Padma introduces the judges: Tom, Emeril, and Patti Labelle, and they're joined by two of Patti's friends. Chris Moto explains that he was inspired by his grandmother, who made steak dinner every Friday night. He made lemon-pepper steak (with an A-1 glaze, which sounds horrible, but I have A-1) with baked potato and vegetables. Heather made beef stroganoff with herb spaetzle and roasted wild mushrooms, inspired by her mother, who made a lot of one-pot meals. Emeril likes Chris Moto's idea but isn't crazy about the A-1 sauce. Patti likes the vegetables and the presentation. When it comes to Heather's dish, Emeril isn't even sure what the meat is because it's so tough and inedible and Patti jokes, "It's Bigfoot." They all laugh. Emeril compares it to hotel banquet food.

Sarah and Paul are serving . Sarah is worried that her plate isn't colorful and pretty enough, especially compared to Paul's lovely plate. Will the judges care? Paul explains that his grandmother taught him how to cook, and she used to make chicken adobo, so he made quail adobo and ginger rice with green mango salsa. Sarah explains that her grandparents cooked together, with her grandfather making his own sausage and her grandmother cooking stuffed cabbage, so she combined the two and made pork sausage stuffed cabbage and spinach with browned butter. Tom likes the clean flavors in Sarah's dish, and is impressed that the cabbage doesn't taste heavy. Tom really can't say enough good things about the dish. They like Paul's dish, especially the use of mango and herbs. Patti says that she normally doesn't like quail, but she loved this. Also, I think Patti wants to do it with Tom Colicchio.

Edward is worried that his dish is too simple, and also worries that he's the only one doing vegetarian food. Lindsay made trout spanakopita with crispy leeks and rainbow trout roe, inspired by her two grandmothers, one Greek and one Southern. Edward serves modern bibimbap with lemon-chili sauce, inspired by his grandmother. Patti talks about how Lindsay's trout roe is like caviar, and the first time she ever had caviar was with Emeril. Wow, cool story, Patti. Emeril thinks that Lindsay used too much butter. The judges thinks that Edward's dish is authentic and that's about all they have to say about it.

Before she serves, Grayson notes that Ty has these small pieces of food on his plate, and she has this giant twelve ounce steak. Seriously, you guys, it's a huge cut of meat. What is she thinking? Why not cut them in half, at least? Her dish is grilled rib-eye steak with German potato salad and grilled vegetables. The judges just stare at the plate like, "The fuck?" Ty-Lor made duck fat-fried chicken tender with pickled peaches, inspired by his Japanese nanny. The judges love Ty's chicken, and Tom thinks his inspiration was sweet. Tom thinks that Grayson basically just recreated the dish she ate as a kid instead of interpreting it, and some of the diners think that the meat is gristly and stringy. Those aren't words you want to hear about your steak.

The judges loved hearing all of the stories. Tom thinks some of the cheftestants got stuck in grandma's kitchen, and Emeril says that the successful ones modernized the dishes. I don't get why some of them didn't understand that it didn't need to be the same exact dish.

You guys, those Voltaggio brothers commercials are painful. PAINFUL. They are not good at reading copy. They should have done it in voiceover or something. Ugh.

Weird interstitial. The cheftestants talk about how they dedicate their dishes to the people that inspired them, and discuss how those people just want them to be happy.

The cheftestants hang out in the stew room and discuss how Patti Labelle is awesome and beautiful, and Ty noted that her toenails were painted to match Padma's shirt. I'm not sure if that was planned. Padma comes in and asks to see Grayson, Heather, and Chris Hollywood. The cheftestants are confused because they always call the top three first, and they're probably all pretty sure that those three are not the top three. And when they get out there, Padma tells them that they are the bottom three. Tom asks if they're surprised to be there. Grayson says that her flavors were on point, and she purposely gave them huge portions to represent her Wisconsin upbringing. Emeril says that the beef wasn't trimmed, and Grayson says that it was. Padma didn't like the texture. Tom wonders why she didn't modernize the dish. Grayson says that she took the challenge literally and she obviously shouldn't have.

Moving on to Chris, Tom says that the fish was cooked too fast, so the outside was hard and dried out. Padma brings up the albumen (a word she just learned, obviously), and Chris admits that he noticed it and tried to scrape it off. Emeril thought that the dill overpowered the other flavors, because the pieces were too big. Patti liked the potatoes but didn't love the salmon. Tom starts in with Heather, and says that her dish went awry. Padma says that the dumplings were dry and chewy and overcooked. Patti can't say enough bad things about the meat. Tom says if it was braised, it was overcooked and if not, it wasn't cooked enough. Heather explains that she didn't use the pressure cooker because she did last time and the meat was stringy. Tom snarks, "Well, Beverly used the pressure cooker, and... she's not here." Ooooh, Tom! Snap, snap, snap!

The bottom three walk back into the kitchen and send out Beverly, Sarah, and Ed, who are obviously the top three. Tom loves that they used their inspirations as starting points. Patti thinks they "put [their] heart and soul on the plate." She specifically mentions that Ed's dish was amazing, and Padma notes that he's on a roll. Tom thinks that every component of Beverly's dish had a purpose and her mom would be proud. Emeril loves that Sarah made her own sausage and the dish worked as a whole. Patti announces that the winner is Sarah. She screams and hugs the others, and they're excused.

The judges discuss the bottom three. Tom thinks that Heather's meat was overcooked and the sauces didn't work. Padma says that Heather knew she messed up the meat, and it was bad. Padma thinks that Chris's salmon wasn't good, and it looked unappetizing. Tom felt like he threw food on the plate instead of planning it out. Tom didn't like Grayson's lack of imagination and Emeril says that it wasn't food worthy of a Top Chef. Somehow that conversation led to them figuring out a loser.

Tom tells each cheftestant what they did wrong. Chris used too many ingredients and they were out of proportion. Grayson didn't use enough creativity and just recreated her parents' dish. Heather tried to rescue her dish and it didn't work. So who's going home? Heather. Well, I won't miss her. She didn't bring anything positive to the table, personality-wise. Heather seemed to expect it. When Heather walks back into the kitchen, Sarah is the only one who seems upset, but Heather tells everyone not to be upset. Um, don't worry. They're not. You were kind of awful. Beverly notes that karma hit Heather in the ass, but she says it nicer. So now Heather heads off to the Last Chance Kitchen to battle Nyesha.

By Kim