Or do something with truffle oil!

Actually, the thought I had for Earth was sea urchin. That's one of the earthiest tasting things I've ever had.

Also, grilled mole. It's possible that Whole Foods didn't have them in stock.

True. It must be the pressure -- this isn't the first time someone's let fish go out with scales.

Sure, and as always, I think there's a fundamental difference between an error caused by the rigors of the competition (fish not scaled as well as could be) and one caused by sup-par decision making and bad judgement. (Let's lightly season the mushrooms, even though Tom's always bitching about things that are underseasoned. Like, every episode.)

Dale doesn't bug me much -- Lisa, Zoi and Spike have all been passive aggresive and whiny this season, and while both Spike and Lisa ultimatley had the right ideas on what needed to be done, the way they went about presenting those ideas was annoying as all hell. (And Lisa at least got her ideas incorporated. Spike was just plain wussy. I can deal with a wuss, and I can deal with a trash-talker, but a wussy trash-talker is nobody's friend.)

I'm OK with Dale's and Richard's arrogance, although Dale's not accomplished enough to own it, and I think last night might have been Richard's wake-up call.) And Crazy Andy still amuses me. Hoping Ryan goes next.

Or do something with truffle oil!

Kiss of death - chefs hate truffle oil. (And with good reason, IMO, since it's almost impossible to use truffle oil without overusing it. And it doesn't make the food taste like truffles, it makes it taste like truffle oil. Which is not a good thing.)

Kiss of death - chefs hate truffle oil.

They use it on this show all the time, though, IIRC.

How many can you feed with, say, $400 of truffles? (Since you'd have to spend something for the soup ingredients.) Assuming they did the butternut squash with the truffles, or that that would even work since I don't really eat either.

but a wussy trash-talker is nobody's friend

Amen, brother. Preach it.

I googled up a recipe for butternut squash soup with truffle oil, so it's not an unheard-of combination. I don't know, it just seems so obvious -- I thought her main complaint with the soup idea was that they had a lot of money and were supposed to going for the high-quality ingredients. So add some to the soup idea! I think maybe Spike has no imagination.

Kiss of death - chefs hate truffle oil.

I did not know this!

Assuming they did the butternut squash with the truffles, or that that would even work since I don't really eat either.

You don't eat butternut squash? So sad! It's one of my all time favorite foods.

I don't know that I've actually ever had truffles. But I assume I would love them since I love mushrooms.

I did just eat a snail for the first time ever on Saturday night. As expected (because it's a vehicle for butter & garlic! w/ a texture reminiscent of a portabello mushroom), I enjoyed it.

If they were doing a butternut squash soup, they could have done it with a drizzle of truffle oil and a truffle shaving on top. But, they had to make their dish for 80 people and I don't know how much/expensive truffles would be.

I don't have any problem with Lisa winning for her bacon. Although Stephanie's shrimp were the main ingredient of the dish, the innovative part was the bacon. She did something that the chefs had never seen before. If Dale had done something interesting with the pickled pepper relish, then maybe he would have won. I could understand stephanie being pissed, but not Dale.

I could understand stephanie being pissed, but not Dale.

Well maybe Stephanie was pissed but Dale is the one who was funnier / more sound bitey about it in interview and so he got the pissed he didn't win edit?

Really, Dale totally won my friend who I watch with and I over by suggesting deviled eggs. We are HUGE deviled egg fans!

Top Chef:

I can deal with a wuss, and I can deal with a trash-talker, but a wussy trash-talker is nobody's friend.

Seriously. Because a wussy trash-talker ends up being a whiner and the one thing I can't stand is a whiner. (Probably because I am one.) But the dish failed because he had no spine not once (when Antonia overrode his squash soup) but twice (when he called Zoi on the mushrooms seasoning, but then let her ride roughshod over him). And Antonia totally said, "If you guys are set on it, I'll do it" so she was right to be all "I didn't say that? It's on film." I loved that they let that meta stand.

think maybe Spike has no imagination.

Yeah. And I agree that if Spike had added some quality to the soup idea, Antonia would have got on board.

Water, I dunno. I thought it was a weak idea to begin with, and that many scales are unforgivable. I can get "pressure of the competition" to a few, but Ming had a freaking mouthful. You served Ming Tsai a mouthful of scales, wtf?

Fire, it was an awesome dish and they must have really made it work, because Tom was really dubious about the idea of such a hot dish for the first course, but then they loved it. But I must say, Stephanie for the win on that one, because she was totally the person who saved that team. They were going to do deviled eggs! And they were fighting with each other so incessantly that they weren't going to end up with a dish at all until Stephanie came up with a totally other dish that she could get both Dale & Lisa to buy into. And I must say that Lisa's bacon treatment sounded seriously yum.

I was ready for Zoi to go and think that Jen will be much better now, without her. She was clearly the superior chef anyway, and I think she was spending all her mental energy shoring up Zoi. And now she'll be on a more level playing field with the others, separated from their SOs, so she can zone in.

Those hats are ridonkulous. He and Ricky from PR should get together and they can cry.

eta: Hee, pro & con deviled eggs crosspost!