Welcome back all. Last week we said goodbye to Alex…what’s in store for this week?

The chef’s file into the kitchen to find Padma standing there alone with no guest judge. Padma says it’s a tasting challenge. The chefs need to identify what they are tasting. The twist in this season of twists? It looks like it’s sauces. This is like Name That Tune (but backwards) and how many ingredients in the sauce can you name and figure out what the sauce is. Kewl. They each will taste the sauce at the same time, have 15 seconds and the winner of the toss get’s to challenge first.

First up? Hosea and Danny and Shrimp and Lobster Bouillabiasse. Hosea says he can name the sauce in 4 ingredients. Danny says 4 as well, but Padma says he has to bid 5, so he calls Hosea’s bluff and Hosea has to name the sauce.  Hosea moves to the next round. Here’s a recap of the rest:

Ariane bid 5, Jeff bid 6.  Jeff starts to name his ingredients and guess crab, he’s out, Ariane moves to the next round.

Jamie bid 4, Stefan bid 5. Stefan names his five and gets them right.

Eugene bid 4, Leah bid x. Eugene lost with a guess of Fish Sauce as one of the ingredients.

Radhika bid 3, Stefan bid x. Radhika wins.

Carla bid 4, Melisaa bid x. Carla wins.

Round 2: Thai Green Curry

Hosea vs. Ariane. Hosea wins with 7 ingredients

Stefan vs. Leah. Stefan wins with 8 ingredients… WHAT?!?!

Radhika vs. Carla (Go Carla!). Radhika bid 8, Carla challenged and Radhika lost – Carla moves up.

Round 3: Mexican Molé Sauce 

The last three chefs (Carla, Stefan and Hosea) will bid, spelling bee style until there is one chef left.

Carla is out with a guess of peanut butter. So onto Stefan and Hosea. Stefan named a wrong ingredient, however, Hosea has to name a correct ingredient or they go for another round.

Hosea wins and has immunity in the Elimination Challenge!

This week’s elimination challenge breaks the teams into 4 groups. New, Borrowed, Blue, Used.

Yes, it’s something related to a wedding, it’s Gail Simmons’ bridal shower for 40 guests. Here are the team breakdowns:

Something Borrowed: Ariane, Radhika and Jamie
Something Blue: Melissa, Leah and Fabio 
Something New: Daniel, Carla, Eugene 
Something Old: Jeff, Hosea, Stefan

The teams have 30 minutes and $800 for each team to shop. Onc ack int he Top Chef kitchen things go CRAZY! They have 2.5 hours to prep.

Menus:

Something Old (1st Course):
Tomato Terrine wrapped in Eggplant
Carpaccio with Tomato Sorbet
Gazpacho 

Something New (2nd Course):
Surf and Turf Sushi Roll
Frisée Salad with Wonton
Peach-Miso BBQ Sauce
Yuzu Sorbet

Something Borrowed (3rd Course):
Eastern Spiced Lamb marinated in Yogurt
Vaduvan Carrot Purée
Wilted Kale
Cucumber Raita

Something  Blue (4th Course):
Chilean Sea Bass
Roasted Corn Purée
Swiss Chard

The courses start to come out and the guest judge for the Elimination Round is Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine Magazine. Their favorite overall was the “borrowed” team. They were completely confused about the “new” group. They were kinda underwhelmed by the “blue” team. The old team just skidded by. Not having tasted any of the dishes, I think I have to agree about the “borrowed team”.

We come to Judges’ Table. “Old” and “Borrowed” are up first and they are the favorites. They absolutely loved the lamb dish from the “Borrowed” team. Dana chooses Ariane as the winner. She is surprised and feels bad for Jamie. She wins a Silver Series Calphalon Cookware set and the full Electrics line.

“Blue” and “New” are up and the judges’ least favorite. They ripped the “new” team. Oh no Carla! Danny at the last minute added those mushrooms to the bottom of Carla’s salad. They hated it. Carla didn’t taste the mushrooms. The “blue” team was just plain and boring.

After the deliberation and talking about who should go home, both teams come back and they scold team “Blue” and send them back to the safe room. Up left is the “New” team. Tom said he wanted to send all three home, ultimately it came down to Daniel.

Good luck Daniel.