Welcome back for Episode 2 of Top Chef Canada!   We get right to this week’s Quickfire Challenge, which Thea tells us is all about Canadian Cheese from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. Dale is worried because he doesn’t cook with cheese. Excuse you Dale, have you never made yourself a grilled cheese sandwich in your whole entire life? Get over yourself! I’m offended on cheese’s behalf. Anyway, cheftestants have 30 minutes to create a breakfast dish with the cheese of their choice, and the winner gets immunity.

 

 

Todd owns a B&B in St. John’s, so he’s all over this challenge, making a stuffed crepe. Andrea loves cheese, but doesn’t do breakfast, but she’s going to poach an egg (something I can do now! Thanks, Julie!) Dale is super intense – is he the Richard BLAIS of Top Chef Canada? Clayton basically puts a wedge of melty brie on a plate with some apple slices, and Rebekah says it’s very amateur. Francois is most worried about time, as he didn’t finish his dish in the Elimination Challenge of Episode 1. Steve has the blowtorch out! Love it.

 

Time’s up, and Francois and Dale didn’t finish their dishes. They get big time stank eye from Mark McEwan. The best dishes are from Todd, Andrea and Rob, and the winner is Todd! He gets immunity. The worst dish is Clayton’s, and Francois and Dale are automatically in the bottom because they didn’t finish their dishes in time. Surprise! These 3 are up for elimination right now! They have 20 minutes to create an amuse bouche for the judges. They are literally one bite away from elimination.

 

Dale makes a spicy cold melon soup, Clayton grills some wagu beef, and Francois does something with foie gras, figs and cippollini onions that explodes in Mark’s mouth – in a good way. 

 

Going home: Clayton. He’s just too young and inexperienced (then why did they let him on the show, one might ask?).

 

Without missing a beat, it’s on to the Elimination Challenge, where the cheftestants have to work in pairs and use Canadian cheese to make a dish that compliments the personality of their partner. They have 90 minutes to prepare 50 canapes for a crowd at an (undisclosed) art gallery, and then an hour for final prep on-site the next day. Knives are pulled to select partners and they are:

 

Todd & Connie

Andrea & Rob

Dustin & Steve

Dale & Patrick

Rebekah & Derek

Jamie & Darryl

Chris & Francois

 

Everyone gets to work, and next thing you know, Mark’s in the kitchen trying to psych everyone out. He seems to be very concerned with ladies spilling food on their clothes and is giving Rob the business for doing cobb salad. After time’s up, we have a brief glimpse into the cheftestants relaxing in their condo, with Patrick (a.k.a Sugar Bear) doing the worm. Random.

 

The next day, the cheftestants get to the gallery, and start to set-up. At this point in the show, I wrote the following note: showing Rebekah so much…is she going home? *Tangent Alert!* This is something I’ve noticed they do so much on Reality TV, especially from when I used to watch America’s Next Top Model. Often the contestant that would end up being eliminated was featured very heavily throughout the episode. If you watched this episode, you already know if my hunch was correct or not. I won’t spoil it yet.

 

The judges arrive on the scene: Thea, Mark, Shereen, and our guest judge Julia Rogers, writer for Food & Drink magazine (the one you get for free at the LCBO, but it’s actually really good). She has a bunch of cheese credentials I didn’t get; let’s just say she’s a cheese expert.

 

Chris & Francois are up first. Francois made a kobe meatball for the asian influence in Chris’ life, and Mark doesn’t understand why you would ever combine asian flavours with cheese. Agreed – think about it for a second! Chris made smoked mushrooms and mussels to represent the Quebecois for Francois. Shereen says fish + cheese = no-no, and Mark says this combination is inappropriate. Why are these cheftestants so clueless about cheese?!

 

Rob & Andrea are next. Rob’s made the controversial cobb salad, because it has a lot of sides to it, as does Andrea’s personality. Andrea’s done a homemade cracker with cheddar and apple butter, because Rob’s grandfather had an apple farm. Mark is impressed that Rob figured out to serve cobb salad as a canape, and Shereen loves the apple butter on Andrea’s dish.

 

Rebekah & Derek. Rebekah has made braised veal with some type of cheese component I missed, on top of a blini to represent Quebec. The judges hate it, and say it’s texturally unpleasant. Derek’s made a blue cheese cheesecake, as a nod to Rebekah’s pastry/baking background, and the judges give it the okay. 

 

Jamie & Darryl. Jamie made a flank steak to reflect Darry’s farmboy prairie attitude, which the judges hate because it’s hard to eat and there’s no cheese in it. Darryl’s done a blue cheese risotto (I won’t tell you why, it’s gross), and Mark is offended by the both the story behind the dish, and the dish itself. So am I, Mark! The judges wonder why would you would make risotto for a cocktail party?  

 

Patrick & Dale. Team Sparkle! I have to say I’m really not feeling Dale in this episode. I feel he’s intense for no reason, and acts like he should win the whole thing just because he won the first Quickfire Challenge. Relax, Dale. Anyway, Patrick made more risotto to represent Dale, because it’s short and intense, sweet and subtle. Dale made some type of crostini with chutney, whatever. Judges didn’t have anything memorable to say about either. I think the cheese expert said this risotto was a little less gaggy than the one before.

 

Connie & Todd. Love Connie! She made a smooth and rich ravioli with marscapone and truffle cheddar because Todd is a smooth, cool cat.  Todd did a roasted tomato and truffle infused cheese on endive, but I’m not sure how that reflects Connie. Judges love both of these dishes.

 

Steve & Dustin. Love these guys, they are definitely the class clowns, and having the most fun. Both did a version of grilled cheese. Steve’s had maple bacon jam (Leianne!) and roasted tomato, Dustin’s was a tostada to represent Steve’s Latin background. Unfortunately the judges didn’t like either of these; they couldn’t taste the cheese in Steve’s dish, and Dustin’s was greasy and not cooked enough. 

 

Cheftestants are back in their supply closet, and Thea comes in and wants to see Dustin, Darryl, Jamie and Rebekah. They had the worst dishes.  Dustin’s dish was a grease explosion, and Shereen doesn’t know if he’s taking this competition seriously. Darryl didn’t show the cheese at it’s best and needs to step up. Jamie’s dish was so inappropriate for a cocktail party, and Mark said it’s technically wrong. Rebekah didn’t highlight the cheese enough, it was unappealing, didn’t look good and didn’t taste good. The judges wonder if she has any palate for savoury food (this was repeated like 12 times). Jamie then starts blabbering on about how he was going to do a cheese sauce, when Thea stops him to say that it would only have made it worse! Oh snap! Jamie and Darryl get into a fight, but I don’t really like either of them, so I’m ignoring it. The bottom 4 are sent back into the closet to send in Andrea, Connie and Rob.

 

They are the best!  Mark loved Connie’s ravioli’s subtle tones and flavours. Rob had all the flavours of cobb salad in one little bite, and proved Mark wrong about it being too messy. Andrea’s cheddar and apples were in perfect harmony. She captured the flavour of both her partner and the cheese.

 

The winner: Andrea!

 

The bottom 4 come back in, and the judges basically reiterate their commentary from before.

 

Going home: Rebekah 🙁

 

Next time: Zakuski & Dan Ackroyd

 

Still loving Connie and Steve, but also Andrea and Rob after this episode. Is Dale annoying you as much as me? Should we always watch out for who they feature heavily throughout the episode as a hint to who gets eliminated? Will Rebekah return for Top Chef Canada: Just Desserts? Do you think that if you’re a baker first and foremost, you can’t have a palate for savoury food? (This might explain most of my cooking disasters!)

 

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