Recap of Top Chef Season 9 Episode 4 – “Red Hot Chili Cookoff”

If you’ve been following my Top Chef articles, you know I thought the first three episodes were pretty lame. Season 9 started off as the most boring season I’ve watched. It seemed like they tried to add in a bunch of bells and whistles because the contestants were so uninteresting. Finally, this week we get two fun challenges. Hopefully this makes up for the lack of interest I have in the people.

The first, a Quickfire Challenge using chili peppers. The second, an Elimination Challenge featuring a chili cookoff. I am a huge fan of spicy foods and I think these challenges fit this season’s Texas locations perfectly. I also have great admiration for this week’s guest judges, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Along with their day jobs, both women are former contestants on Top Chef Masters .

For the Quickfire Challenge, the contestants walk in and see big clipboards listing chili peppers, dollar amounts, and degrees of heat. In this challenge, the chefs will be rewarded for taking risks. They have to choose one type of chili pepper to focus on in their dish. Because it takes more skill to cook with hotter peppers (without overpowering or losing the rest of the flavors), the hotter peppers will earn the winning chef more money than those with less heat.

The judges’ least favorite dishes are Beverly’s, Richie’s, and Chuy’s. Beverly played it too safe, Richie’s only had the sweet flavors come through and not the heat, and Chuy’s canned tomato flavor overpowered everything.

The judges’ favorites are Heather, who could win $10,000 for using the Thai chili, Grayson, who could win $12,500 for using the habanero, and Paul, who could win $20,000 for choosing the hottest pepper in the world, the ghost chili. I was hoping Paul would win because he took the biggest risk. And he does!

The Elimination Challenge is a chili cookoff. The judges will be a group of rodeo goers. The chefs are divided into five teams of three people and told they have all night to cook their chili back at the contestants’ house.

Sarah, Chuy, and Chris C. are on the green team. These chefs make a traditional Texas chili using NO BEANS. Sarah, a born and bred Texan whose father was a bull rider, charms the local cowboys. The judge’s only complaint is that the chili is kind of thin.

Dakota, Whitney, and Chris J. are on the red team. This team builds its own stock with the bones but no one likes the texture of the stringy meat. Unfortunately, at the market they were stuck having to select a different cut of meat than brisket because it was already sold out to the other teams.

Ty-lor, Grayson, and Lindsay are on the white team. Doh! Of course one team has to use a boatload of beans on a bunch of Texans. The judges believe there is too much acidity with the pickling of ingredients.

Beverly, Nyesha, and Richie are on the black team. The black team creates a mole inspired chili with chocolate. Chocolate may sound like a strange ingredient for chili, but anyone who has lived in Cincinnati and enjoyed Skyline Chili will tell you it can work!

Edward, Heather, Paul and are on the blue team. They have some interesting ingredients with pickles and peaches. The judges like the unique ingredients but don’t think the chili itself is all that great.

After pulling an all nighter to get the most flavor out of their chili, the contestants are worn out but excited to enjoy the rodeo. At the end, Padma rides in on a horse to announce the winner of the 2011 Tejas Chili Cookoff winner, the green team.

While the locals get to chose the winning team, the Top Chef judges have to choose the losing team and the contestant who will get the boot. The black team winds up on the bottom. Of course, there’s another wrench thrown in the mix. The chef to be sent home isn’t going to be chosen right away.

There’s another task: Repurpose the losing chili and make it into a winning dish. Each individual must create his or her own dish with only 30 minutes to cook. And this is after they stayed up all night cooking the first round of chili. I’m not sure Beverly’s nerves can take it as she has already cried when she wished her husband was here to experience the rodeo with her.

Nyesha decides to make and forgets to use much sauce. She knows the judges won’t be pleased with that. Richie’s food is a one-note dish and doesn’t have enough seasoning. Beverly makes a seared tuna and uses a strained portion of the chili as sauce. The judges think her changeup with the flavor profile is clever. They also appreciate that she shows pride in the original ingredients rather than just crusting stuff in Fritos and tossing on a bit ‘o chili like the other two do.

As I watch, it is obvious to me that Richie will go home. He’s been in the bottom and it’s starting to seem like he makes different mistakes every time. It’s hard to take in the criticism and learn from it just to make new mistakes the next time.

Next week, the chefs are going to Dallas. We’ll see what happens!


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