Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Do you like sandwiches? Of course you do, because you’re an American with a mouth and at least a few good teeth left. Well lucky for you, this week’s episode is all about the humble sandwich.

Team Challenge

The cooks are tasked with creating the perfect bite of an American classic sandwich: the club, peanut butter and jelly, or some kind of “salad.” Guest judges Mario Cabone and Rich Torrisi, chef/owners of Torrisi Italian Specialties, will be doing the tasting off of teeny tiny plates instead of spoons. The winning cook gets immunity.

In Malarkey’s kitchen, there’s lamb in a muffin pan, roast pork, and chicken curry. Ludo’s kitchen is cooking up a tuna salad with mayonnaise, Thanksgiving on a bun, and a lot of hostility. According to Gregg, it’s how French chefs communicate. Nigella’s two-person kitchen is making chicken, and chicken. Bourdain’s team is making shrimp egg salad (which sounds disgusting), pork taco, pork belly, and we learn that Tony doesn’t like brioche. Okay, so that’s no sea bass, and no brioche. Duly noted.

The judges will get to taste Diane’s pork taco, Huda’s fried chicken sandwich, Khristianne’s chicken curry, Gregg’s tuna sandwich. The judges choose Gregg’s sandwich, which makes people want to sucker punch Gregg in the gut more than normal.

Individual Challenge

The individual challenge is a lot like the team challenge—make a sandwich in an hour. But without the restraints of the classic American-style sandwich, the cooks get a little more creative. After a flurry of kitchen activity (including a few cooks making their own bread in an hour!), it’s hands up and sandwiches down. So how did they do?

• The judges can’t figure out what’s in Adam’s cubano.
  Is that chicken or turkey?

• Khristianne’s pork belly and chicken liver mousse is a big hit.

• Gregg’s curried lamb on naan is all about ego, according to Gregg who is the foremost expert on both Gregg and ego. The judges do not like it and the bread comes across as pastry.

• Lauren’s Mediterranean lamb on naan kicks Gregg’s lamb on naan’s ass.
  It’s the kind of sandwich that would make me reconsider my social plans so that I could enjoy it.

• Jeff’s hot beef sandwich hits some happy notes with pesto ad caramelized onions.

• NinaMarie’s beef carpaccio is a hit and a miss. Ludo likes its mushiness, but Malarkey thinks the mushiness is too mushy.

• Sarah’s fried oyster taco is not exactly a sandwich, but it is rather tasty.

• Diane’s bahn mi is waaaaay too bready.

• Adam forgot to put the bacon on his steak and fried green tomato sandwich, but the judges like it anyhow.

• Mia made lamb and eggplant on naan, which underwhelmed the judges and left Nigella with a charred flavor in her mouth.
  Seriously? More naan? Is this the next big thing? Like we’re going to start seeing naan pop-up restaurants all over Brooklyn?

• Uno’s steamed beef bun impresses the judges because she made her own bread, even though she really just baked it from premade pizza dough.

• Huda made a chicken pesto sandwich that Tony mistakes for tuna because it’s undercooked.
  Mine was a raw chicken sandwich.

The contestants aren’t pleased with the judges’ comments.

With the judges full and the cooks jittery, it’s time to see which two cooks are going home this week. Bourdain’s best is Lauren, and his worst is Huda. Malarkey chose Jeff’s steak sandwich as his favorite, and Mia gets a thumbs down. Ludo also liked Jeff’s sandwich, and picked Gregg as the worst which, yeah. That feels kind of good. Nigella’s best is Nina Marie, and her worst is Diane.

With two thumbs up, Jeff’s simple steak sandwich is the winner. Gregg has immunity, so his lousy lamb is safe. That means it’s between Mia’s charred lamb and eggplant, Huda’s undercooked chicken pesto, and Diane’s bready bahn mi.

The decision is unanimous, and Huda goes home. You just can’t serve raw chicken on television. Also out is Mia, whose burned bread is unforgivable. This leaves Nigella with a team of one, Lauren, who has been hit-or-miss all season. That should make next week very interesting.

Reprinted with permission from www.healthywaytocook.com

Last week, the cooks served up spoonfuls of comfort food. This week, it’s all about perfect pairings.

Team Challenge

For the team challenge, the cooks must each create a dish using five ingredients selected by their mentors that pair well with an Argentinian Malbec. The winning team gets the benefit of guest judges Michelin-starred chef David Kinch and sommelier Andre Mack during the Solo Taste Test. Nigella’s Team will be using calf’s liver, harissa (hot chili sauce), couscous, ground lamb, and lamb sausage. Malarkey’s Team must cook with figs, almonds, bone marrow, filet mignon, and sea salt. Anthony went all meat for his team and selected beef steak, chorizo, beef tongue, lamb kidney, and lamb chops. Ludo’s Team has an odd assortment of white miso, bonito flakes (dried, smoked fish), charcoal (huh?), smoked eel, and cassis.

Tony encourages his ladies to drink as much as possible, and it seems to have spilled over to Nigella because she seems a tad tipsy, too. Tony chooses Uno’s Thai beef salad spoon for judging. Ludo selects Gregg’s short ribs, which his team says has no “wow factor.” Nigella goes with Erika’s spoon that had something with cilantro, and Malarkey picks Adam’s squab with red wine reduction.

The judges ultimately chose Gregg’s short ribs, and I think the only person happy about that is Gregg because he’s perpetually pleased with himself.

Solo Taste Test

The cooks must create food and wine pairings using one of four different wine styles: German Riesling, California Chardonnay, French Côtes du Rhône, and Italian Barolo.

There’s some berries and Riesling, we learn that artichoke makes wine taste too sweet, pork shoulder, duck, salmon, and the chef questions whether Sarah can pull off her dish. Khristianne accuses the white wines of being easier than the reds, and Diane’s ego may be getting in the way of her cooking.

The four mentors taste the spoons blind and vote for the best and the worst. Since the spoons are paired with wines, the judges should be hilariously hammered by the time they have to vote out two of the cooks. So, what did they cook for us this week?

• Mia paired shrimp and charred cauliflower with Chardonnay.

• Gregg paired pasta with Bolognese sauce and a glass of Barolo.

• Erika’s miso orange sea bass is paired with Chardonnay.
  “You almost use the wine to get the taste out of your mouth!”

• Adam’s seafood with saffron aioli is paired with Chardonnay.

• Diane serves up blood sausage with potato gratin and Côtes du Rhône.
  Ludo thought it was cheating because the blood sausage was already made.

• Sarah poached salmon and served it with clam salad and a Chardonnay.
  The judges practically spit it out.

• Paul paired Côtes du Rhône with rack of lamb.

• Uno gave the judges chicken and egg and Chardonnay.
  “I just don’t know what the **** is going on here.”

• Huda baked a lemon zabaione and paired it with Riesling.
  “It’s waaaaaay too sweet. Sweet on sweet. Sweet, sweet, sweet.”

• NinaMarie cooked braised pork shoulder and paired it with Barolo.
  “That had really good flavor but it’s horrendous looking.”

• Jeff paired Chardonnay with seared sole and sweet pea puree
  “I’m transported back to 1986.”

• Lauren paired steak and polenta with Côtes du Rhône.

• Khristianne’s braised duck is paired with Barolo.
  “I thought that was sexy.”

• Shawn’s sea bass with goat cheese ravioli is paired with Chardonnay.
  “Who would put goat cheese with fish?”

And how did their dishes pan out? There was some good, and some really, really bad. Tony’s best is NinaMarie’s pork shoulder, and his worst is Huda’s sweet sloppy lemon zabaione. Ludo’s best is Khristianne’s duck, and his worst is Sarah’s salmon. Malarkey also enjoyed Khristianne’s duck, and he hated Erika’s sea bass. Nigella also selected NinaMarie’s pork shoulder as her favorite, and her worst is Shawn’s cheesy sea bass.

Both Khristianne and NinaMarie are winners this week with two votes each. As for the worst, two of the four cooks up for elimination will be going home. Huda, Shawn, Sarah and Erika are the bottom four. Two cooks from Nigella’s kitchen are at risk (Huda and Erika), and two from Ludo’s kitchen (Shawn and Sarah).

Huda’s sweet sweet sweet was not going down well with anyone except for Nigella. Tony recommends she pair Riesling with sauerkraut next time. Both Erika and Shawn cooked Chilean sea bass, and it turns out that Tony hates Chilean sea bass. That’s so…specific? Somehow, Sarah’s salmon was described as both bland, and overpowering.

In the end, the mentors eliminated one cook from each team: Erika from Nigella’s team goes home, and Shawn from Ludo’s team.  Wow. Anthony Bourdain really doesn’t like Chilean sea bass.

Next week, the cooks make us some sandwiches.