Top Chef: Cooking High
February 17, 2018 3:04 PM - Season 15, Episode 11 - Subscribe

"In breathtaking Telluride, the Chefs embark on the first leg of the finals. As they walk down the quaint Main Street they are quickly reunited with the winner of Last Chance Kitchen, and the new group of five face Padma, Tom, and Chef Wylie Dufresne. For the Quickfire challenge, they are tasked to make a dish incorporating the old saloon slinging medicinal beverage, sarsaparilla. Then the chefs cook at Alpino Vino, a fine dining restaurant at the highest elevation in North America, where they prepare a dish that must include a baking element. And no chef knows the difficulty of cooking in high altitude locations like Michelin-star recipient Chef Paul Liebrandt who has cooked in the Swiss Alps. It's a tall order to impress judges of this caliber at just under 12,000 feet up." (description from Bravo)
posted by primalux (9 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble

 
Carrie wins Top Toast, and everyone wins Top Sunburn! (The sun is intense here; bring your hats.)

Carrie and Adrienne are feeling to me like the likely winners; Carrie’s story is looking too good to pass up, and she lives in Colorado too, so that’s a nice touch. I’m still not a fan of Mustache Joe.

Paul Liebrandt though? Dude came across as so cold and above all of this.
posted by hijinx at 3:08 PM on February 17, 2018


I thought Paul seemed to really be interested in what they were doing, and very enthusiastic about Carrie's beef Wellington. She was worried about cooking it for a British judge, but to me he seemed ready to be surprised.

Fie on the Joes for poo-pooing making toast twice when Joe Staso has made pasta, and dumplings in particular, multiple times.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:56 PM on February 17, 2018


Man I can't imagine cooking at altitude like that. Baking in particular was a great challenge and was quite fun to see how people rose to the challenge.
posted by Carillon at 5:06 PM on February 17, 2018


It seemed kind of skeptical when Paul Liebrandt said he's cooked as high as 18,000ft in the Alps... so I looked this up and the highest mountain in Switzerland is just 15,000ft??? Did they not fact check this or just left it be because it was too difficult to edit it and most people wouldn't care?
posted by xtine at 5:35 PM on February 17, 2018


I had to cook at 8500k once and I almost cried trying to boiling water, so I have nothing but respect for these folks.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:37 PM on February 17, 2018


So sad that we've lost Chris. But I think I would have been equally as sad if we had lost Carrie.
posted by chainsofreedom at 11:22 AM on February 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Fie on the Joes for poo-pooing making toast twice when Joe Staso has made pasta, and dumplings in particular, multiple times.
And extra fie on Joe F for doing so when he was the one who took her protein??
posted by inconstant at 7:48 PM on February 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


they have improved as before there definitely seemed to be less acceptance of flavors that aren't "western"

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with the show, and it has improved this season but not by much. It helped that Fatima shared some food heritage with Padma. If there was a, say, Cambodian chef, I'm sure it would have been as terrible as it has been in the past.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:43 AM on February 19, 2018


Does anyone else think it's weird that Adrienne is just now saying she is cooking "her food" and not how her former bosses and mentors would cook?
posted by apricot at 3:37 PM on February 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


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