I know the lines we draw between sweet and savory are arbitrary: Traditionalists regularly use lard in pie crust, and the English make delicious steamed puddings with suet; we put carrots in cake and sweet potatoes in pies; mince pies used to contain real mincemeat, and some still do; sugar gets sprinkled on meat dishes in Morocco. We're increasingly aware of the way a little salt heightens the pleasures of chocolate and caramel; I've tasted bleu cheese ice cream; and bacon crops up in all kind of desserts these days.
But I still have qualms. Yigit's dessert with foie gras and bacon? I'll take the judges' word that it was delicious.
The winner was Zac, who was offered either $1,000 or immunity -- and who bargained his way up to $5,000. No one's ever had the stones to bargain on Top Chef before.Heather found herself in the bottom three with Danielle and Eric. You can see this super-competent chef's confidence draining away week by week, and she seems -- irrationally -- to be fixing a lot of the blame on Morgan. Later in the show, when she couldn't find a tray of rice crispy treats, it was clear where her suspicions lay. For his part, Morgan is starting to loathe Heather, Yigit and Zac, who have dubbed themselves Team Diva and are having far too much fun playing together in the house.
The Elimination Challenge: to create black-and-white desserts for 200 people at a party celebrating the 128-year history of the Los Angeles Times -- though I'm not sure why anyone in the mainstream print media is celebrating these days.
The shopping took place at Albertson's rather than Whole Foods. Why? Don't desserts require the highest-quality ingredients, too? Once again, Zac lamented: "They don't make black disco dust." But he was soon deep-frying crispy little whoopie pies, happy as a clam. Or merry as a grig, as Noel Coward used to say. They can't ever eliminate Zac from this show. Half of the joy of watching would exit with him.
Zac didn't win this one, but he was in the top four with Morgan, Yigit and baker Eric -- who produced a dessert that was not only delicious but elegantly plated and received lots of praise for how far he'd come. The winner: Yigit.
The three women were in the bottom. Danielle is clearly living on borrowed time, but it was Erika who got sent home because, the judges said, her ice cream tasted like soap. Perhaps some of the Dawn Hand Renewal that had been so relentlessly promoted throughout got into it.
I'd tell you more about the actual desserts, but the elements and ingredients flew by so fast, and each little plate seemed to contain so many of them, I couldn't keep track -- much less begin to figure out how anything tasted. And the <em>Top Chef website hasn't been keeping up with the recipes. Perhaps they've given up, too.
It's not as if you could -- or would -- really make one of these elaborate concoctions for a dinner party, but you could replicate parts of them, gain fresh ideas, or learn a bit more about how top chefs actually conceptualize dessert. If only they'd give you more information.
Read Juliet Wittman's last Just Desserts piece here.
