The main challenge in this week’s episode of Top Chef was to prepare a monkfish lunch for 40 kids between 8 and 12. If you’ve ever seen a monkfish, you can understand the enormity of the challenge. It’s one ugly fish.
The contestants divided into two teams and each smartly decided on kid-friendly dishes. One team made monkfish nuggets by cutting the fish in small pieces and breading it in cereal crumbs. The other team pureed the fish, added cream, shaped it into small hot dog shapes, battered and fried it to make “Monkeydogs.”
On this team, Stephen, who has obviously never fed children, had to have a reality check. His idea was to present monkfish, and only monkfish, three different ways on a plate. The other contestants on his team had to endure his elitist sniping (“I don’t accept mediocrity!”), but convinced him to go the monkeydog route. Both teams also created what they thought were kid-friendly side dishes to round out the meal.
To add a little drama, just before the competition, the host asked the children, “Who likes pizza?” to cheers. Then, “Who likes hamburgers?” Yaaaaay! Then, “Who likes fish?” to which the children responded with a collective “Ewwwwwww!!!” To top it off, she then unveiled a whole monkfish, ugly face and all, and told the kids this is what they would be served. It’s a credit to the kids that they gave it a shot.
In the end, both teams did well with the monkfish. It was the side dishes that decided the battle, and Brian was ultimately fired because of his overcooked maple-glazed carrots.
But it wasn’t the cooking that made this show compelling. It was the amazing arrogance of some of the contestants. Stephen scoffed at Candice’s attempts to make the food kid-friendly, telling her that her idea of using cookie cutters to cut fruit into interesting shapes for the kids was beneath his standards and that she didn’t understand what the competition was about.
While the rest of Stephen’s team hammed it up for the kids, trying to create a fun experience, Stephen went around trying to educate the kids on the proper french term for potato chips and trying to explain esoteric culinary concepts. I kind of wanted one of the kids to give him a swift kick to the shin to take his snooty nose out of the air.
Stephen’s team ended up winning after all, and the focus fell on the other team as they debated why they lost and who should be sent home. The team thought the other team won because they were better entertainers. Harold complained, “The last time I checked, I wasn’t an entertainer. I’m a chef.”
Tiffany, in particular, railed on the challenge, saying that they had been forced to “cook for kids without a palate. They’re used to greasy, salty, high-fat food.” She felt above the challenge and refused to try and win the kids over. “I wasn’t going to do the interpretive monkfish nugget dance.” After she went on to say, “Children in this country eat crap and nothing but crap and if it doesn’t come with a toy they don’t want it,” one of the judges told her that it was a good thing she had immunity from winning the quick fire challenge, or she would be fired for her bad attitude.
In the end, Brian was fired for the carrots that the kids didn’t like because they were overcooked, but the judges were disappointed with all of them for not respecting their audience. I also felt these contestants underestimated their audience. After all, they kept open minds and tasted the monkfish, and they knew an overcooked vegetable when they tasted it. The moral of the story? In a world of elite cooking, the customer, whoever it may be, still comes first.