Top Chef Season 3, episode 6
“Freezer Burn” Ten chefs remain, Rocco DiSpirito (looking suspiciously unlined in the face) was the guest judge for a cooking bee. Howie was right that there was too big a variation in difficulty. Who can’t identify bow-tie pasta by sight? Casey won immunity, and the chefs were sorted into pairs and challenged to create a quick-cooking frozen pasta meal. Hung smugly figured out how to do it, but didn’t have enough backbone to browbeat Joey (I know I’m mixing bodily metaphors) as J. later said needed to be done. Dale and Casey were cute and bubbly together, but it was clean that Tre and C. J. were going to win the challenge, as they were the only ones who paid attention and followed through on individually freezing the components. I was annoyed by Tom Colicchio’s challenge that truffles weren’t Mediterranean; no, then what are tartufo, chef? If even _I_ know the Italian word for it, then I think it’s fairly well known. The Sara and Howie pairing was a disaster. Neither communicated, and both swallowed their anger, though Howie exploded, as per his usual, when pushed too far. I was glad to see Colicchio not letting Sara off the hook for not participating. In the end, Joey went home. He and Hung had the worst dish (they sold none, as opposed to Howie and Sara’s 3), and Joey’s admission of his hard-headedness and inability to listen was honest, and probably sealed his fate. I was sorry to see him go. I thought Sara’s behavior much worse, and I like how pugnacious Howie and Joey are.
This show was one of the few I’ve seen that has practical application in my kitchen. I’ve frozen many a pasta dish, then struggled to swallow the goopy, mushy dish when it thaws. Par cooking the pasta, then freezing the sauce separately in little cubes is a simple and effective way to create a frozen dinner that can be prepared in minutes using only the stovetop, a boon in hot weather.