Top Chef (Season 6, Episode 5) – “Camping”

Quickfire
The guest judge for this “camping” episode of Top Chef is Tim Love, chef and owner of Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Ft. Worth. This is a high stakes QF where the winner gets $15K. Fans got to choose between rattlesnake, cactus and kangaroo. The vote was 57% for cactus. So the challenge is to make a dish with cactus in 45 minutes. No one would receive immunity on this QF.

While Padma and Tim were trying the dishes it was really hard to read Tim and which he liked and disliked.

The bottom three were Ash, Michael, and Ron.
Top three were Laurine, Mike I., Mattin. Tim Love chose Mike I. as the winner saying he showcased the cactus the best with his Cactus and Tuna Ceviche.

Elimination
The elimination challenge is to prepare a high-end lunch, outdoors on a ranch for Tim Love and two dozen cowboys. The chefs can cook anything they want, but it has to be high-end food.
The chefs arrive to the ranch and the site of teepees and their outdoor kitchen. If you could really call it a kitchen. It consisted of four fire pits in the ground, cast iron pans, and a wagon filled with pantry items. Throw in the heat of the day and an open flame pit… not a fun environment for cooking.

Here are some of the comments made by the judges as they were eating each dish.
Mike: so-so sandwich, nothing Tim would call his grandma about
Laurine: flavorful, Tim liked it
Eli: could use more flavor
Ash: sensible, too much bacon and grease
Mattin: Tom actually spits out his bite… not a good sign for Mattin. Tim says it’s fishy.
Robin: Terrible, like sucking on a piece of chlorine
Bryan: appropriate, nicely cooked
Jennifer: good slaw, perfectly cooked
Ashley: best that Ashley’s done
Ron: best ceviche, bad cocktail
Kevin: pretty dish, nicely cooked
Michael V.: tasty, nice and refreshing

Top four were Laurine, Ashley, Michael and Bryan, with the win going to Bryan for his Roasted Pork Loin with Corn Polenta, Dandelion Greens, and Glazed Rutabega.

Bottom three were Robin, Ron and Mattin. Robin gets reamed for terrible shrimp. Mattin says he surprised to be up for elimination, but he gets the heat from Tim, with Tim saying he actually feels sick from eating the dish Mattin prepared. Tom explains how there was raw cod next to cooked cod. Ouch. Not good things to hear for Mattin. Ron gets it for his dish being to sweet, but takes it the worst for the drink he prepared.

The loss went to Mattin. Not a surprise after hearing all the judges’ comments.