By Kim
The final five cheftestants learn they are leaving Seattle and going on a cruise to Alaska. Once on the ship, they learn about their Quickfire Challenge: guest judge Curtis Stone asks them to create a one-bite dish to serve 200 guests on the "Welcome Aboard" party using iceberg lettuce.
The first challenge is using an all-electric kitchen since you're not allowed to have open flames on a ship. Curtis has good things to say about each dish, but ultimately chooses Sheldon as the winner for his Vietnamese pork lettuce wrap, which included pickled iceberg lettuce hearts. Padma tells Sheldon that he'll have an advantage in the challenge.
The cheftestants have dinner on the ship and then get their Elimination Challenge: reimagine surf and turf. Sheldon's advantage is that he gets first choice of proteins, and no one else can use the same ones. Here's what they served:
Brooke: mussels and frog legs with celery root and fennel puree, papadums, and shallot chutney. The judges are impressed by the creativity as well as the flavors, and think it's a modern take on surf and turf.
Stefan: braised pork belly with beer sauce, parsnip, and eel ravioli. Tom and Hugh Acheson are less than impressed with the crunchy pork, but Curtis defends it as being culturally appropriate in Europe. Padma likes the creativity of the ravioli, but the judges complain that they can't taste the eel.
Josh: scrambled scallops with braised pork belly and bacon. Josh originally wanted to do a pasta dish with the scallops but the sauce wouldn't set up so he scrambled it. The judges like the flavors, although Padma thinks it needs more surf and less turf. They are all impressed that Josh went outside the box since he's usually so traditional.
Sheldon: Korean BBQ filet mignon, tempura lobster, sesame cabbage kimchi, and teriyaki sauce. The judges aren't impressed by the tempura, which is soft and cold, although they love the kimchi.
Lizzie: cabbage stuffed with suckling pig and scallops with mustard sour cream. She has equipment issues and barely gets her food plates in time. The judges note that the cabbage isn't cooked enough (equipment problem) so the cabbage roll falls apart. That said, all of the various elements are very tasty.
The winner comes down to Brooke or Josh; ultimately, the judges choose Brooke because they thought she came up with a completely new combination of proteins with great flavors. Lizzie and Josh are safe – kind of surprised about Lizzie, because the judges didn't seem to love her execution.
So the loser is either going to be Stefan or Sheldon. Sheldon's dish was uninspired and his tempura was soggy. Stefan didn't really marry his two proteins and his pork belly was too crispy. And then Padma gets to tells Stefan to pack his knives and go. Wow. So none of the returnees made it to the finals, unless one of them comes back via Last Chance Kitchen (no spoilers here!). I wonder if that will affect the producers' decision to do that again. I liked seeing familiar faces but I would have rather seen cheftestants who really got eliminated on a fluke and deserve a second chance.
Right after Josie's elimination, everyone hugs Brooke and celebrates being in the final five. Josh interviews what we were all thinking: that Josie should have gone home long ago. Josh tells Brooke and Stefan that they're just better cooks than Josie and deserved to stay. Brooke says it's all about the individual challenge, and you never know.
Suddenly, Padma and Tom pop into the Stew Room. Padma tells everyone that they're all leaving Seattle tomorrow, because they'll be taking a cruise to Alaska. Everyone is psyched, except for Brooke, who has a fear of boats. Tom tells them he's expecting big things from the final five. Once Tom and Padma are gone, the final five chitter chatter about how excited they are (is this why the episode had to be extra long?) and finally decide to go home and pack.
Once back in the condo, they all drink wine and reminisce about some of the awesome experiences they've had so far, and then start packing. Stefan interviews about how all of his time on boats in the past came in the form of his military experience. We get a lot of old photos of Stefan in the army. He had hair! That looks weird.
Brooke is dreading the boat trip, because she apparently gets sea sick and is also just scared of being on water. She interviews that she doesn't want to pass her fears on to her kid, so she's trying to suck it up and get over it.
The cheftestants board the ship and talk about how beautiful the scenery is. It's not just them on the boat; there are actual cruise passengers as well. They all have a cocktail party and get to relax a bit before the games begin.
But soon enough, they're called down into the kitchen where Padma and Curtis Stone are waiting for them. Padma congratulates them on making it this far and then slams them with the Quickfire. They will have two hours, so longer than usual, but they will have to prepare two hundred portions, which is A LOT. And Curtis delivers the death blow; their featured ingredient is iceberg lettuce. Stefan giggles because they have to use iceberg and they're on a big ship. Sheldon interviews that iceberg is, like, the worst lettuce. I like Sheldon and he seems like a good cook but he's not the most well-spoken guy.
Everyone runs to the pantry and starts picking out ingredients. Brooke interviews that they aren't allowed to have open flames on a ship, so all the stoves are electric, which is a challenge. Fuck electric stoves. I hate that bullshit. Anyway, Brooke plans to do a play on a BLT.
Lizzie struggled with some of the equipment, mostly because there are special locks on the oven and the refrigerator to keep them from swinging open during rough waters. Stefan interviews that he loves iceberg lettuce, and he plans to braise it kind of like cabbage and then he makes a gross joke about Padma having something warm in her mouth. Ugh. Gross, dude.