26 replies to this topic

[Shayol]

It's in French, it's from Quebec, it's not a Top Chef clone. No junk food challenges, for one thing, no drunken contestants and no bitchy backstage interviews. Normand Laprise is one of the regular judges.

The first show of the second season is available on tou.tv. There's also a crepe-making workshop available on the show's main site. The judges were not too pleased with the competitors' crepe-making skills -- only Michelle and Annie did a decent job.

ETA: I think I had better explain a little what's going on with the show. It will help me take my mind off the embarrassment of having my no-knead bread turn into no-rise bread yesterday!

First of all, there's always a feature on local products. This time, it's giant scallops, grown (not fished, which destroys the environment) on Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Magdalen Islands) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The "aspiring chefs" have to produce two entrées (appetizers), one of them a crepe, featuring scallops and crayfish. They can also use shrimp and lobster. Chef Jean-Luc Boulay thinks the tough part will be dealing with the fact that the ingredients are live.

I think my favourite part of the show is the seeing the judges' reactions and hearing their comments while the cooking is going on, which you don't get on Top Chef. The judges watch everything and they deduct marks for (in this show) using metal implements in nonstick pans or using too much butter to make their crepes. Last year, they booted someone for daring to braise a prime cut of meat ("not respecting the ingredient"). Laurence got extra points for helping out Luca with his scallops. Normand Laprise, on top of being a great chef, turns out to have a wonderful face for television, very expressive.

Pasquale Vari, who teaches at ITHQ, is the one who called out the three extra guys at the bottom for not really making crepes. He told them that if the judges wanted them to reinvent a dish, they would let them know. Otherwise, they're to stick to the challenge.

It looks like the elimination duel is going to be a regular feature this season; they only had a couple last year. The duels will focus on basic techniques; in this case, it was cutting a chicken into eight pieces (which is where the bootee screwed up, poor guy), and preparing a rack of lamb and a roast. I have the impression the judges weren't too impressed with the trussing and the rack (too much fat taken off) from either contestant. I love this arcane kitchen stuff! Well, arcane to me -- and maybe to a few of the competitors.

I believe Radio-Canada is available throughout Canada, so I'll just add that the show is on Mondays at 8 p.m. (just before the Top Chef Canada finale).

Edited by Shayol, Jul 4, 2011 @ 3:04 PM.

[Shayol]

Second show: 12 competitors. Featured ingredients: eggplants and 30-day-old pigeonneau, which I gather is called squab and not pigeon when you're eating it. Squab isn't particularly popular around here. Judge Pasquale thought the candidates would do worse than they did on the squab, but was disappointed that nearly everyone made eggplant purée. Luca was one of the few who didn't; the judges liked his egglant parmegiana. Recipes are here. Second show is here, preceded by a commercial of course. There's also a rebroadcast Sundays at 5 p.m.

Comments from the judges: throwing away the carcass instead of using it to infuse more taste into the sauce, not cutting the nails on the extremely gross-looking legs, hacking away at an expensive ingredient like squab, running in the kitchen, not paying attention to proper hygiene. Apparently squab tastes better when cooked on the bone, which also makes it easier to control the doneness (rare or medium-rare at most). I wouldn't know since I've never eaten pigeon. Émilie's sauce split. Mathieu, who works at the trendy Kitchen Galerie, left a bone in the breast meat. Guillaume may have worked for Top Chef Canada winner Dale, since he spent a year at Lumière in Vancouver. Contestant's bios are here. Laurence is third, Guillaume second and Luca wins. (On the first show, Guillaume was third, Annie second and Laurence the winner.)

Maxime and Michelle ended up on the bottom, which meant duelling ice-cider sabayons. Fun moments: the judges' disgusted expressions and the other contestants' horror at bad sabayon technique. The loser (one of those "I'm not a pastry chef" types, who was informed it was a basic technique that could be applied to savory cooking too) put butter in the sabayon, with the other contestants yelling "Taste it! Taste it!" because it would be clear it was wrong. Unfortunately the duelling contestants can't hear them. No suspense as to who was eliminated.

Chef Daniel Vézina demonstrates proper sabayon technique here. I don't particularly like eating the stuff, but looking at that made me want to slather it all over. According to Chef Vézina: five egg yolks, maybe three tablespoons of sugar (less than recommended by Escoffier!), four tablespoons of cider, then a couple of tablespoons of water to make sure the mixture is frothing up even before you start to cook it. A common mistake is to take the sabayon off the heat before the eggs are fully cooked. All the little cheflings are thrilled at the sabayon's volume. Too cute. It's ready when it doesn't fall on your head when you turn the bowl upside down... I don't think I'll be trying that anytime soon.

It looks like Martin Picard will be guest judge next week. More fun! He used to work for Normand Laprise.

ETA: Not only Martin Picard, but also, according to the previews, maple syrup. The challenge seems to be to make a summer sugaring off dish. (Sugaring off is a springtime activity, so I'm not too sure what will be going on.)

Edited by Shayol, Jul 6, 2011 @ 9:20 AM.

[Shayol]

Show number 3, with 11 contestants. Here's the whole thing, and here's how to cook foie gras. Chef Daniel Vézina usually doesn't score the foie gras unless it's very thick, since that just makes it melt faster. He does get rid of the first and second melted fat, since it tends to burn. He does have some beautiful colour on his foie gras.

The "Rabelaisian" Martin Picard was guest judge. He's well known for bountiful, exuberant plates -- and foie gras. Au pied de cochon is not the restaurant to go to if you're on a diet! The contestants knew the challenge ahead of time and were given a budget of $60 to go shopping. They had to make a lighter savory dish featuring maple syrup. When asked, Picard said he would probably go with a lobster and maple syrup dish.

The judges apparently don't like to see meat cooked in oil only: it doesn't show enough love. Boulay says he always adds a bit of butter at the end. Needless to say, he's a French chef!

They question Laurence's decision use canned beans (beans are traditional fare with maple syrup), but she thought it would be OK since they weren't a central element. As it turns out, Picard also likes Clarks beans, so maybe she got lucky. As did Clarks, and they're not even a sponsor.

Yannick was criticized for not peeling his white asparagus. Unpeeled green asparagus is fine.

I had a laugh when Jean-Luc Boulay downed his beer and told Michelle beer was a very good idea.

Winners:

Third: Annie - well seasoned pork fillet, with a pointed mention (probably directed at Guillaume) that meat should always be seasoned before being cooked sous vide; well balanced sauce; maple syrup well present.

Second: Luca - good pasta, good sorbet.

First: Laurence (again) - mackerel and maple syrup go well together. The judges liked everything, but Martin Picard thought that the vegetables and boudin (blood sausage?) weren't necessary and chalked it down to her lack of experience, since she has only been cooking for two or three years. He also approved of her palate and the thought she put into her work. Winning recipe is here.

Mathieu got a mention for his more professional attitude. Martin Picard mentioned he was one of the few cheflings who respected the "summer" part of the challenge.

On the bottom:

Yannick - the judges liked his ideas but not his execution. The potatoes were undercooked (always a bad thing on cooking shows!) and the cretons (no idea how to translate this) were dry.
Émilie - serious lack of judgment to use store-bought cooked ham in a cooking competition.
Philippe - portion too small, lobster used but not present.
Robin - another lobster who died for nothing, although Martin Picard liked the taste of his maple syrup. He has to be more dynamic.

Duellists:
Yannick and Émilie. In ten minutes, they had to cook a filet mignon rare, a pork chop à point and foie gras to Martin Picard's taste. Both did well, but the watching cheflings were yelling at Yannick to get the foie gras out of the pan. He didn't, and he ended up being sent home. He had the better filet mignon, Émilie had the better pork chop, and Picard had the tie-breaker.

[Shayol]

Fourth show, 10 cheflings remaining. The show is here. The cooking lesson is here, although I can't get the video to play for me. My omelets are better than those of both duellists (although I never have judges watching me!), but I admit I use way more butter in my nonstick pan than Daniel Vézina does in his lyonnaise.

The cheflings are going to cook organic rabbit in relay teams of two, with 45 seconds to talk to each other when switching over. The members of the losing team will face each other in the elimination duel, which seems pretty cruel to me. Jean-Luc Boulay says rabbit is lean, delicate and a bit bland. The bones are fragile, so you have to be careful when deboning. If cooking it sous vide, you have to cook it at 80C (a relatively high temperature) and for only a short time.

The teams, determined by a draw before the show: Annie and Mathieu who end up at number 2, Émilie and Luca 3, Guillaume and Philippe 4, Jean-Philippe and Michelle 5, Laurence and Robin 1. Michelle is unfamiliar with rabbit; she has cooked some rabbit thighs?/legs?, but has never deboned a whole rabbit. Jean-Philippe thinks she'll do well at the mise en place.

Another ingredient is dandelion. Luca is familiar with the ingredient and says his grandmother goes into the fields to pick it. Chef Jean-Luc Boulay says he never has dandelions on his land because he eats them as soon as they pop up. He also thinks Philippe works cleanly and would be a good young cook to have in a kitchen. He likes to see Émilie tasting the food a lot; it's what you have to do when cooking. Judge Pasquale Vari can't look when one of the women uses a mandoline with bare hands.

Normand Laprise says one chefling will have to take the lead while the other will have to follow. He also says it would be easier to have one person finishing and plating instead of both working on it, as will be case here.

Annie/Mathieu: extra points for fancy technique in butchering rabbit ribs, tasty salad, good sauce, rabbit breast well cooked.

Émilie and Luca: good sauce, average presentation without keeping client in mind, found a bone in the breast, Émilie a good surprise tonight.

Guillaume and Philippe: good sauces, mushy texture (cooked for too long sous vide at 64C), poor presentation. Both cheflings agreed beforehand they liked the taste of their dish, but that the texture was a problem. No more rabbit sous vide for them in the future!

Jean-Philippe and Michelle: poor communication, Jean-Philippe upset that Michelle didn't prepare the chicken breast for stuffing, although the judges liked the way the breast was finally cooked.

Laurence and Robin: good communication, acidity of asparagus salad went well with the rabbit, rabbit well cooked and well seasoned, lots of texture, cabbage was a little bitter and al dente, and should have been blanched.

So Michelle and Jean-Philippe end up duelling with eggs: 12 minutes to cook two poached eggs, one egg sunny-side up, and a three-egg omelet in a lyonnaise. The judges are not impressed. Jean-Philippe's omelet was as "dry as a hanged man's butt" according to Jean-Luc Boulay. It's not an expression I've heard before!

Apparently you're not supposed to season sunny-side eggs because it doesn't look good; anyway, Michelle's is overcooked. JP had the right technique for poached eggs, but they were tough. The judges agree that the end product trumps technique. Michelle stays because she had the best poached egg. Jean-Philippe says he was convinced he wouldn't be leaving.

[Shayol]

Fifth show, with nine cheflings competing. Show is here, pasta workshop is here, winning recipe is here. This was the dreaded pasta challenge, which was a disaster last year. It somehow makes sense that the show invited last year's winner, Guillaume Cantin, to be the guest judge. He's now a sous-chef at Les 400 Coups, a newish and very successful restaurant in Old Montreal. This is a guy who went back to school to complete his pastry and sommelier courses, so he's organized, He was a little bit under the radar last year; the early favorite was Arnaud Marchand, who was also a finalist.

Anyway, the challenge is to prepare an entrée (appetizer) using at least two colors of pasta. The featured product: herbs. Right away some cheflings are looking shaky. Mathieu's pasta won't go in the pasta-maker (whatever you call it in English; it's a laminoir in French); Annie has the bright idea of using fresh olives to color her pasta, something she's never tried before; Laurence squeezes some herbs to get to the juice instead of making a purée, and ends up with some yukky-looking brown liquid. I'm not sure about Annie, but the other two end up throwing their experiments out. Michelle says she's made pasta before, but never tried to color it. Annie gets extra points from Pasquale when she rolls up her stuffed pasta and poaches it; he says it's a fieldworker's lunch from the South of Italy.

The judges comment that a lot of cheflings are using cuttlefish ink in their pasta, because it's faster than making a tomato or herb purée, and say it's going to be a black pasta fiesta. They don't seem too impressed by that. Luca says his pasta has to be perfect, since he's Italian and this is his kind of food. Pasquale Vari and Jean-Luc Boulay both favor using only egg yolks to make pasta: it's richer tasting. It's also good to leave out egg whites if you're adding extra liquid in the form of a purée.

Guillaume makes some gorgeous patterned pasta. I don't know what the exact term is in English, but he places basil leaves on a sheet of pasta (no stems, which would poke through), covers that sheet with another one and runs it through the laminoir again. Gorgeous! Unfortunately, the pattern doesn't really show in his ravioli, but we all know it's there.

Near the end, Philippe drops his pasta. Julie, the host, is appalled when he picks it up and continues. The judges understand: he wouldn't have anything to present otherwise. Julie wants to know if restaurants serve food that has been dropped on the floor. The judges reassure her: it goes straight into the garbage and the cooks start over. I'm sure that's what happens in their restaurants...

The judges are generally not impressed with pasta day. There hasn't been much focus on the herbs either, just the pasta. They've chosen a top two instead of a top three:
1. Guillaume: great presentation, best herb sauce, scallops well cooked (quick, get him on Hell's Kitchen!).
2. Luca: good stuffing, parmesan chip gave texture, but a little too much saffron and the pasta was a little too thick.
Guillaume gets congratulated on beating an Italian, Luca admits his friends will give him a hard time about coming in second, but he's satisfied with his placing, since he knows his dish wasn't perfect.

However, the judges have no problems picking a bottom four:
Robin: his idea was good and so his dish should have been good, but he ended up with overcooked clams, dry pork, practically no sauce, undercooked pasta.
Laurence: overcooked pasta, scallop nearly raw inside.
Philippe: dry stuffing, pasta only one color (the green leaves spread around the pasta didn't count!), he didn't say anything about dropping the pasta on the floor when Normand Laprise asked him how things had gone -- the judges consider this unacceptable, although they still tasted his food.
Michelle: insipid, dominant flavor was parmesan, her tomato pasta was harder than her basil pasta, which made for unpleasant eating, carbonara sauce without lard isn't carbonara sauce.

Duellists: Philippe and Michelle. They have to make an île flottante (literally, floating island). I don't know what it's called in English, but it's a meringue floating on a crème anglaise. Philippe hates îles flottantes; his grandmother used to make them and he hated them back then too. Michelle gets booted for not measuring precisely, for using whole eggs instead of egg yolks in the crème anglaise, for not using enough sugar and for undercooking the crème anglaise, although the meringue had the better texture of the two. The cheflings sitting around on the sofas know the proportions to use: six yolks, 500 ml milk and 125 g sugar.

Next week: Manuel Kak'wa Kurtness, an Innu (not Inuit) chef. The trailer mentions that the First Nations didn't use salt or pepper. I predict chefs collapsing in shock if their salt is taken away from them. And that includes the judges!

ETA: Since I gave the name of the restaurant where last year's winner works, I though I might do the same for the other judges. Martin Picard, Au pied de cochon. Apparently he has hired Jean-Philippe, who has always seemed to me to be one of the weaker cooks. However, I remember Picard commenting on Jean-Philippe's passion for cooking.
Jean-Luc Boulay, Le Saint-Amour, which has been a top restaurant in Quebec City for decades.
Normand Laprise, Toqué!, one of Montreal's top restaurants. Laprise has trained a lot of chefs. He also owns Brasserie T!, run by one of his protégés, Charles-Antoine Crête.
Daniel Vézina, Laurie Raphaël, in Quebec City and Montreal.
Pasquale Vari teaches at the Institut de tourisme and Hôtellerie du Québec, which runs restaurants staffed by the students.

Edited by Shayol, Jul 29, 2011 @ 9:08 PM.

[Shayol]

Sixth show, 8 cheflings remaining. Show is here and winning recipe is here. The workshop is a visit to La Traite restaurant at the Hôtel des Premières Nations in Wendake (near Quebec City), where Chef Martin Gagné serves the contestants eel, seal and beaver meat.

Guest chef Manuel Kak'wa Kurtness challenges the cheflings to cook a main course featuring goose, and he asks that the whole goose show up in the plate. Beak-to-tail cooking, then. The funniest part of the show is the gaggle of geese marching organically and purposefully back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, going nowhere.

Daniel Vézina warns the cheflings, and the judges agree, that the pantry might prove to be their worst enemy, since they're supposed to be using local products, notably the ones that have been provided with the goose: fava beans, jerusalem artichokes, wild garlic, Labrador tea, ginger lily and smallage. However, the goose drumsticks turn out to be the main difficulty, since they can't be cooked properly in 90 minutes. Daniel Vézina says that trying to make a confit of drumsticks in the time available is a major error of judgment.

And yes, they can use salt and pepper.

We're back into teams: Annie and Philippe, Émilie and Mathieu, Guillaume and Robin, Laurence and Luca. Laurence seems to have an advantage, since she has Kurtness' cookbook, Pachamama, and loves it. Unfortunately, neither she nor Luca can recognize a goose ("Is it a duck?"), so I decide not to put any money on them.

The judges are not impressed with the cheflings' butchering skills. Jean-Luc Boulay isn't happy to see Luca throwing away goose fat. "It's gold," he says. I find him to be the most concerned with the client – he'll criticize plates that are difficult for the client to eat or cut into – but he also keeps a strict eye on the bottom line. He also says (approvingly) that he can always recognize Guillaume's plating, even if he didn't know who was doing the cooking.

Chef Kurtness isn't happy to see the cheflings throwing away leaves, since they have a lot of flavor. He points out that the cheflings could also be making tartares (none of them do).

Paquale Vari says this is the time to use sous vide techniques, after all the times they've been doing it unnecessarily or inappropriately in previous shows. Of course, the cheflings decide not to cook much sous vide. He also criticizes the way they hold their cleavers.

Big no-nos: cooking leeks and onions at the same time, stuffing too much into a small saucepan.

The judges note that Philippe seems to have taken the lead, which IMO is dumb: Annie has way more experience than he does and has had better results in the competition. Basically, I think he decided that since he's the guy, he's the boss. I can't help comparing it to the way Robin gracefully accepted Laurence's lead in the previous team challenge. The judges note Annie's good attitude in not crushing Philippe after he lets the garlic burn. After that, he gives up the lead to her.

The judges decide there's only one winning team: Guillaume and Robin. Three-star sauce, good teamwork, great taste, used whole bird, making meatballs from drumsticks a good idea. Guillaume says they wanted to use port in their sauce, but decided that wasn't very aboriginal, so they used a cloudberry liqueur instead. Poor Robin notes that next week he'll be back by himself with just his ideas.

Émilie and Mathieu: I notice he says "I" all the time, and not "we." Well, "he" dropped one of their two magrets on the floor, so the plating was clumsy and uneven. Undercooked, not enough resting time, sauce too sweet and over-reduced, good salad.

Annie and Philippe: Poor communication, neither breast nor drumstick cooked through, tough, very poor quality.

Laurence and Luca: Foam a waste of time, since it was tasteless; drumstick undercooked, tasty salad, good ideas but poorly executed.

Jean-Luc Boulay notes that the cheflings' seasoning has improved since the start of the competition.

Duellists: Annie and Philippe. Not much of a surprise. They have to make goose tartare in ten minutes, and they can't use salt. The cheflings watching in the lounge (much better than the ugly Top Chef stew room) say they're more nervous that the duelists.

Going home: Philippe. So much for macho. Too much onion. Also a technical error in using Thermomix to make mayonnaise for just one plate.

Next week, it looks like the cheflings will be having a miserable time with sea urchins. I'm not sure I'll be trying that recipe any time soon.

Edited by Shayol, Aug 22, 2011 @ 10:52 AM.

[Shayol]

Seventh show, with 7 contestants. Show is here and winning recipe is here. The workshop is all about the featured product: sea urchins. Worse, it seems to be about sea urchin gonads. Somehow, I never wondered about the sexual habits of sea urchins before. Pass the brain bleach, please.

The cheflings had a written test before the show (they're informed it's based on tests given to applicants seeking employment as culinary school teachers) and they'll each pick a basket containing a fish, a starch and a vegetable, plus the aforementioned sea urchins, in order of their marks.

Émilie (who said being good in school finally paid off): striped bass, pearl barley, baby bok choy
Guillaume: grey snapper and shrimp, couscous, leeks
Laurence: red snapper, couscous (different size from Guillaume's, I think), Swiss chard
Annie: Arctic char, wild rice, green apples and scallions
Robin: mackerel, green Puy lentils, chayote
Luca: plaice, quinoa, red bell peppers
Mathieu (who knew he would be last): grouper, bulgur, green asparagus

Mathieu was grateful Luca had picked the plaice. Luca said he had never seen grouper. Maybe grouper isn't an Italian thing, but he had an awful time figuring out how to cut the plaice, so he wasn't an expert there either. Robin said he didn't have much experience with lentils and didn't know anything about chayote. Laurence loves red snapper tartare.

Daniel Vézina tells the cheflings that the judges can taste the stress and nerves in their plates and asks them to enjoy cooking again.

Normand Laprise says they serve 60 to 100 pounds of sea urchins per week in his two restaurants, about 80 percent of it raw. He approves Guillaume's method of cleaning his fish in the sink, unlike Mathieu who's getting fish scales all over the counter and floor. Mathieu is also having difficulty cutting the fish because he hasn't chopped off the head first.

The judges are half-amused and half-appalled by the contestants' urchin-opening and -emptying techniques. They consider that Annie is merely complicating things by cooking sous vide again and note that Émilie seems to have regained her confidence. Jean-Luc Boulay says disapprovingly that Mathieu has wasted bulgur and made enough for way more than three servings. (It turns out that Mathieu had no clue bulgur would swell up like that and thought it would be more like couscous.)

The judges note that most of the contestants haven't salted their water before emptying the sea urchins into it. (You can see the cheflings tasting the salted water during the workshop.) Normand Laprise says he couldn't taste much urchin in many of the dishes.

Luca says his dish is boring; Mathieu is afraid his is too simple; Laurence and Émilie are happy with theirs; Annie says the judges found a bone in her dish, so she's not confident.

The judges actually found three dishes they liked this show:

3 – Mathieu: The judges had doubts about his bulgur (looked dry) and his asparagus salad while he was preparing them, but they ended up tasting great.

2 – Laurence: Well-seasoned tartare.

1 – Émilie: Progressing well, concentrated. Loved the fishskin chip. Everything would have been perfect with just a little more salt.

Middle of the pack: Annie, whose fish was undercooked.

Bottom three:

Robin, who wasn't surprised to be in the bottom: Overcooked, dry, bland.

Luca: His idea was good, but his sweet and sour sauce ended up lacking sweetness and acidity. He wasn't surprised to be in the bottom three either.

Guillaume: Great technician, but he has to listen to what the judges have been telling him all along – he's not seasoning his dishes sufficiently. In this case, there was also too much leek and not enough sea urchin. The judges thought the couscous hampered his plating.

Duellists: Luca and Robin. They have to make 500 ml of beurre blanc and 500 ml of béchamel.

During the tasting, Pasquale Vari says they both forgot to strain their sauce, and Normand Laprise adds dryly they also forgot to cook it. The judges give both a fail on the beurre blanc. Luca didn't reduce his vinegar and white wine, while Robin didn't add enough vinegar, plus he added cream and rosemary. Robin had somewhat better seasoning on the béchamel, so he gets to stay. He's sad to see Luca go, since they've developed a nice friendship.

Luca says he would have preferred to stay of course, but he's proud of what he's accomplished in the competition, particularly since he's only 20, and he feels he has learned more in a short period of time than he would have in months under other circumstances.

Next week: It looks like the remaining cheflings are going to get 30 minutes chopped off their prep and cooking time. Panic in the kitchen?

[Shayol]

Eighth show, six contestants remaining. Show is here, winning recipe is here, workshop on cutting and storing fish is here.

The cheflings have to prepare a main course balancing sweet, salty, bitter/sour, acidic and spicy (piquant). The featured product is salmon. They've been told about the challenge ahead of time and given $50 to shop. Laurence is the biggest spender at $40.46. Robin spends only $20.22 and says his mother would be proud of him.

When the salmon is unveiled, Laurence says it looks more like a whale. It's definitely on the large side. Émilie is happy with salmon, since she likes working with fish of any kind.

The judges like to see that the salmon is being cleaned in the sink, but not that it's being done under running water. It should be placed on a baking sheet slanting into the sink; holding it by the tail will just crush the fibers. Jean-Luc Boulay waxes nostalgic about the good old days when salmon was a rare delicacy and treated with respect. Now it's just banal. He hopes foie gras won't go the same way. He sees Annie filleting her fish and grumbles about all the salmon going to waste. He's going to be in a particularly grumpy mood throughout the show.

Ten minutes in, the cheflings are told they'll have 90 minutes instead of two hours to prepare their dish. I'm pretty sure the show cuts some swearing from Laurence. She says she had a packed two hours of work planned.

Normand Laprise comments that it's very difficult to remove pin bones from really fresh fish. Daniel Vézina looks distinctly unimpressed as Mathieu lets his skewers burn. The other judges are scandalized when Mathieu dumps his cooked fish into iced water and (apparently) leaves it there for ten minutes. Jean-Luc Boulay comments sarcastically that it's a great way to improve the taste of a cooked steak. Then the judges look ready to throw him out of the kitchen when Mathieu claims he's cooking tataki. They're furious at the disrespect to cooking techniques.

The cheflings are having problems with fire tonight. Robin uses a blowtorch on his jalapenos. They seem to be in a metal dish, but he manages to burn his cooking board. Normand Laprise says it's unacceptable and he's never seen anything like it. Then Jean-Luc Boulay sneers at Laurence's plan to burn leeks in order to make oil. He doesn't enjoy the taste of burned food.

Pasquale says you can tell that salmon is overcooked when you see white streaks (albumen) in the meat. The judges comment that Robin is doing picked radishes again. The judges, in a rotten mood by now, decide on a top two instead of a top three.

2 – Guillaume: The judges liked his ideas. The salmon was well seasoned, the cucumber emulsion very good. Maybe there was a touch too much pimento oil, but they all agree it was delicious and Jean-Luc Boulay wanted to eat the whole thing.

1 – Émilie: The judges rave over her broth and say her salmon was divine. Her tataki was great. She said it was Asian cuisine, and it really was. (This was probably said while glaring at Mathieu.)

Everybody else is in the bottom.

Mathieu: The consensus is that he got away with it. His food was well seasoned and his gelée was good, although badly presented. The judges admit his dish was surprisingly good. I think it's pretty clear he would have been in the top three if the judges hadn't witnessed his unorthodox non-tataki.

Annie: The judges are disappointed because they liked her ideas and were looking forward to tasting the food. Unfortunately, her execution failed. The chocolate overwhelmed the other tastes and the raw jalapenos killed the taste buds.

Robin: His salmon was overcooked (yes, there are white streaks) and would have been returned to the kitchen by a client. Normand Laprise uses the dreaded word "inedible." His orange emulsion was bland and a waste, although the five flavours were present.

Laurence: Her salmon was well cooked, but the judges didn't understand where she was going with her dish. She seemed lost. Her gribiche was useless. I think losing those 30 minutes affected her plans too much and she wasn't able to reorganize her schedule.

Duellists: Disappointing Annie and inedible Robin. They are presented with a chicken breast, a potato, broccoli and a carrot stick, all steamed, and are given 15 minutes to make a dish that tastes and looks good. The cheflings in the lounge seem more nervous than the duelists.

Annie says Robin's plate looks good, but hers looks like shit, then amends it to cafeteria food. I'm not sure which is considered worse… The judges agree with that evaluation as regards presentation, but taste wins out and Robin goes home. He's proud of himself for lasting as long as he did.

Next week: It looks like Laurence is in some sort of trouble.

[Shayol]

Antepenultimate show, five cheflings remaining (two men and three women, which is unusual for a television cooking competition). Show is here, winning recipe is here, crab-shelling workshop is here. Daniel Vézina specifies that the crab is dead as soon as he makes the first break, which is something both Annie and I wondered about.

This week, the contestants have to fuse the hosts' favourite dishes into one: asparagus with lemon butter for Daniel Vézina, crabs and whelks for Julie Bélanger. They also have to use the featured product, Yukon Gold potatoes.

This doesn't seem like a particularly difficult challenge, as long as you can handle all the shells of course. Asparagus stalks don't have to be fancy to taste great, and you can do anything with potatoes. The question is whether it will be fusion or confusion cuisine, as Julie says later in the show. The judges agree they should keep it simple and not go looking for extra ingredients. Unfortunately, the cheflings feel they have to show off their (non-)mastery of various techniques and ingredients.

By the way, all the challenges so far have been "gourmet" or "fine dining." No casual or comfort food, certainly no vending machine nonsense. Presumably, if you can cook and present something to the highest standards, you can also put something simpler on a plate if you have to.

Anyway, Jean-Luc Boulay is sick of seeing chopped-up asparagus from the cheflings. Normand Laprise would like to see tasty, crunchy, whole asparagus. Yum!

The judges feel Laurence is looking lost, unfocused. Émilie and Mathieu are leaving their whelks in the water too long. Normand Laprise hopes they've salted the water, but thinks the whelks will end up being chewy anyway. Jean-Luc Boulay complains his teeth are hurting just at the thought of it.

Émilie and Annie taste their food often. The judges approve. Guillaume has the best whelk-removal technique, although there's still some going to waste. The judges don't approve of Guillaume picking up a whelk he dropped on the floor instead of throwing it away. At least he rinsed it. The judges hope he used boiling hot water.

Mathieu's crab shelling doesn't impress the judges or host Julie, who grew up eating crabs. On top of that, he's adding corn to the dish, because he just loves crab with corn.

Guillaume is seasoning well; evidently he has reacted to being chewed out by the judges for under-seasoning. The judges note approvingly that he's using a lot of crab and his croquettes are looking good. Émilie seems well organized, unlike Laurence.

Daniel Vézina is disappointed that most of the asparagus is being transformed. He likes it more natural, fresh. He doesn't understand why the cheflings are adding corn to their dishes. It's not needed.

Pasquale Vari recognizes Mathieu's presentation without knowing who was cooking: it looks thrown together. Ruh-roh. However, Mathieu says he's happy with what he did, he loves corn. Émilie is disappointed with her presentation; it's not what she had in mind. Laurence likes her dish, as does Annie, who says it's really her. Guillaume says he concentrated on the ingredients.

Daniel Vézina and Julie will taste the cheflings' dishes. Julie selects the same winner and duellists as the judges will eventually pick. She says she didn't taste the crab in Mathieu's dish: there was so much going on that she couldn't taste anything. As for Laurence, the light that was inside her at the beginning has dimmed. She loved Guillaume's dish. She could really taste the crab.

The judges have only two winners again this week:

2 Émilie: Soup/purée a little acidic, but good crab and lots of it. Professional work, well balanced flavours. Liked her little julienne on top.

1 Guillaume: Perfect croquettes, nice and crunchy. Lots of crab and lots of crab taste. He's the only one who presented asparagus the way Daniel said he liked it.

The rest are in the bottom three.

Annie: Good work overall, but the dish lacks freshness. Pasquale says he's not an expert on whelks, but he enjoyed them. Normand Laprise feels the aioli could have used a bit more oil. Jean-Luc Boulay likes the combination of corn and crab, particularly since the corn didn't dominate. The crab was tasty. The whelks were well cooked but not well cleaned. The sauce in the bottom killed the dish.

Laurence: She looked lost, not present. The taste was OK, but for Normand Laprise she lost a lot of points on technique and presentation. Jean-Luc Boulay feels the asparagus flan wasn't sufficiently creamy. Pasquale Vari thinks the whelks were well cooked and the crab salad was decent. Laurence says she's shaken by the judges' comments that she looked unfocused and disorganized, because she feels the same as at the beginning of the competition.

Mathieu: Ugly presentation and worse taste. No harmony. Tasted of everything and nothing. Pasquale says his dish was a disaster. Way too much corn compared with asparagus and crab. Normand Laprise says Mathieu had problems with organization and hygiene.

Duellists: Laurence and Mathieu. They have rice, cherry tomatoes, shitake mushrooms, green and white asparagus (again), and chicken stock. Guess what? It’s risotto time! They have 25 minutes to make it, with Pasquale Vari (born in Italy) hovering over them. Fortunately, he doesn’t yell and swear à la Gordon Ramsay.

Laurence: too liquid, al dente. Mathieu: overcooked and too salty after he added the cheese. Neither of them took the time to make sure their rice was "nacré" (coated with oil). Mathieu goes home. He would have preferred to stay, of course, but feels proud to have made the top five.

Next week: Power cut in the kitchen. I wonder how that could have happened.

[Shayol]

Tenth show, four cheflings left. One of them will not make it to the final next week. Show is here, winning recipe is here, squid workshop is here.

The cheflings are given their challenge ahead of time: prepare a gourmet bistro meal, "bistronomy" instead of "gastronomy." Guillaume and Annie are happy; they love this kind of food. The contestants are given 30 minutes and $60 to buy their ingredients. Low is Guillaume at $46.05; high is Annie at $57.20. Thrifty cheflings, again.

The meal will include a cold soup (potage), a main course and a vegetable purée. They have two hours and the featured ingredient is beer from a microbrasserie (an artisan brewer). I can see a white beer which contains coriander, a bitter amber and a dark oat. I don't like beer, so I don't care.

Daniel Vézina reminds them that bistro portions are usually larger than restaurant portions. The presentation can be less elaborate, but the taste must still be there. Normand Laprise mentions later that a bistro dish may require 3 to 5 steps to plate, while a gourmet restaurant will need 8 to 11.

The judges get all excited when Guillaume breaks out the siphon to spray the coating on his onions before frying. None of them has ever seen it done like that. It will make for a light dough, without egg whites or baking powder.

Laurence has finally come around to the judges' way of thinking and admits maybe she has been feeling a little stressed during the past few shows.

The judges are also looking forward to Guillaume's beef bavette (I think that's a skirt or flank steak). They're almost drooling as he crosshatches it. Jean-Luc Boulay is in a good mood this evening. I think he likes bistro food as much as Guillaume and Annie, although his restaurant is definitely fine dining.

The judges are less impressed with Annie as she skins her tomatoes. Not enough water in the pot or the ice bath, too long in the pot. She's cooking them. Pasquale Vari sniffs that it's an amateur mistake.

The judges get back to being happy as they spot Émilie preparing a Flemish carbonade: beef braised in beer, with onions and herbs.

Back to Annie: why is she using roasted peppers from a jar instead of fresh ones? Judges no like. Simple: she forgot to buy fresh peppers at the supermarket.

Oops! Thirty minutes in, the power goes out. The cheflings can continue to use the gas stove and oven, but nothing electric. The lights will be turned back on because they're using knives (and also because television in the dark isn't that interesting to watch), but that's it as far as electricity goes.

Guillaume is very unhappy. How is he supposed to make carrot soup (or purée?) without his beloved Thermomix? He can't stand lumps. In the end, out go the carrots and in comes the squash.

The judges are snickering at the cheflings' dismay. All the cheflings have to do is get back to basics. So out come the presse-légumes (no idea what they're called in English). Jean-Luc Boulay says all you need to cook is fire, salt and pepper.

Laurence is having problems with her onion purée. It won't go through the strainer. She looks frustrated, then dumps the purée on her cutting-board and starts chopping the onions more finely. The judges approve her initiative.

Jean-Luc Boulay says thoughtfully that Guillaume has all the attributes of a chef. The judges are happy with the cheflings: they're all at a high level and they're doing well technically.

With 35 minutes to go, the power comes back on. Relief and joy from the cheflings as they dash around to finish.

Jean-Luc Boulay claims it was the best performance of the season. Pasquale Vari says the food ranges from very good to excellent. It's going to be a tough choice.

2 Guillaume – Exceptional potage; both Jean-Luc Boulay and Normand Laprise would serve it at their restaurants. Steak well cooked. Sauce a little bitter.

1 Laurence – Pasquale Vari says her main course was his favourite. He could have eaten a whole bowl of the onion purée. Jean-Luc Boulay considers it a perfect dish of real bistro food. The potage was good, but the judges thought the colour wasn't appetizing.

Duellists:

Émilie – Brussels sprouts undercooked.

Annie – Would have preferred to see marrow still in bone.

The duel: Bistro-style breaded fried squid with spicy mayonnaise in 20 minutes. Laurence is going nuts in the lounge yelling "Start your mayo, start your mayo!" Even the more stoic Guillaume gets nervous.

Unfortunately, Annie decides to bread her squid twice and doesn't finish her mayonnaise or her plating. She should have started her mayo! The judges taste Émilie's dish anyway, in case it's inedible. It's a bit salty, but otherwise OK, so the choice is easy. Annie goes home. Normand Laprise does congratulate her on getting her mayo emulsified in one minute.

Next week, the three finalists will each prepare a three-course meal for the judges: appetizer, main course, dessert. No featured product, it's all up to them. It also looks like there will be one invited guest judge, but I can't see who it is from the preview. The show will be 90 minutes long. (There were complaints last year that 60 minutes was too rushed and we couldn't see enough cooking.) Like last year's finale, the meals have already been served, but the winner will be announced live. I have no idea who's going to win. I can't even say who should win. Like last year, all the finalists are pretty good. Again from the preview, it looks like something gets burned and something is forgotten.

[Shayol]

Finale (sad face here), with Marie-Chantal Lepage, executive chef at the Château Bonne Entente (where the show is taped) as the fourth judge. Show is here, all the recipes from the finale are here, no workshop.

The meal was served back in May, and the cheflings have had to wait the whole summer to find out who won. Their friends and families are all present. They all say they're happy, proud and nervous when they're interviewed. The cheflings from 2010 and the current season are also in attendance.

The three finalists have five hours to prepare their mise en place, then thirty minutes to finish and plate each course. The servings will be staggered every ten minutes, with Laurence going first, then Guillaume and finally Émilie. (They drew lots.) The main course is worth fifty percent.

Oops! The judges disapprove when they see Émilie opening up a can of litchis. Normand Laprise says that's sad. They're also disappointed Guillaume is stuffing his beef with pancetta. It's nicely marbled and doesn't need the extra fat. Laurence has forgotten to wash her peaches and remove the sticker. Jean-Luc Boulay isn't looking forward to eating them. Then Laurence burns her bangs.

Émilie would have saved time by using a piping bag to fill her quickbread molds. It would have looked better too. Laurence should have used parchment paper for her caramel (duh!). Her caramel seems undercooked to the judges. The judges are horrified that Émilie is letting her fois gras boil. Huh?

Émilie burned her chips and has to restart them. The judges agree Laurence's boudin (blood sausage) is looking good. Then the judges disapprove of Émilie's lobster shelling technique; they all reach over to their clipboards to deduct points. Normand Laprise finds Laurence a little too calm. They're not happy to see her removing her tuiles from a silicone sheet with a knife. Émilie is rushing and not washing her vegetables. The judges all warn against imitating Guillaume's frying technique — he seems to be deep-frying in a pan, as opposed to pan-frying. Jean-Luc Boulay says he's taking a point off for that. He also wants Laurence to put more sauce on her plate.

And all that is before the judges have tasted any food…

Appetizers:

Laurence: The boudin is judged to be excellent. It could have used a touch more salt perhaps.

Guillaume: His marinated onion wasn't aggressive. It's judged to a gastronomic plate, fresh for summer.

Émilie: Her granité was good but too sweet. Too much mango (bad news for Émilie, since it's her favourite fruit and present throughout the meal.) The trout tartare needs more seasoning.

Main course:

Laurence: Her monkfish is too salty and, yes, she could have been more generous with the sauce. The apples don't belong on the plate.

Guillaume: Good croquettes. The judges may have had doubts during the cooking, but Jean-Luc Boulay says the beef is superb. Good seasoning.

Émilie: Her quinoa is undercooked, her vegetables overcooked. It's all too sweet. The judges can't taste the scallop because it's drowned in sugar.

Dessert:

Laurence forgot to plate her tuiles. Her dessert is well balanced.

Guillaume: The judges notice the three different forms of cake (triangle, round, square). It's a nice touch. Jean-Luc Boulay asks Guillaume if he made the olive oil powder himself. He did. The judges like it as a decoration, not so much for the taste. Laurence and Guillaume are even when it come to their desserts.

Émilie: Jean-Luc Boulay says the canned litchi has taken over. However, she's the one who has followed her theme most consistently.

It's pretty clear from the judges' comments in what order the cheflings finished, but here's confirmation:

3 Émilie.
2 Laurence. She also won fan favourite.
1 Guillaume

The winners from both last year and this year were working at the Panache when they signed up for the competition.

[Shayol]

Season 3 started this Monday. I've just realized that, apart from sports, this is the only show I watch "live," commercials and all. The show is available online here.

We have the same three judges, Normand Laprise of Toqué!, Jean-Luc Boulay of Le Saint-Amour, and Pasquale Vari of ITHQ. We have the same two co-hosts, including Daniel Vézina as mentor and coach of the participants. The workshops he'll be giving to the participants are also available online, starting with a red bell pepper emulsion and a sauce vierge (olive oil, tomato, vinegar, shallots).

We have a new group of 13 cheflings, who are introduced to us briefly over the course of the show. They get right down to work: two hours to prepare a Beef — OK, a Bison Wellington in two hours, with sauce and garnish. Shades of Hell's Kitchen, except that I've never made Beef Wellington and three or four seasons of watching HK never gave me the basics of how to cook it, just Ramsay ranting.

I now know that you have to debone and "peel" the meat , sear it, let it cool down completely, make sure the mushroom duxelles is dry so it won't make the dough soggy, wrap the whole thing in puff pastry, bake in the oven at 425F for 10 minutes, lower the heat to 375F for about 20 more minutes, let it rest, then cut and serve.

That's why the judges are puzzled when some of the cheflings don't immediately start working on the bison. It makes no sense to start with the vegetables.

Anyway, bison is very lean, so you have to be careful not to overcook it. These Plains bison have been raised without hormones, free to roam, no antibiotics. Apparently they're fairly resistant to disease.

Rough start to the season: after 20 minutes, the cheflings are informed that they will have 20 minutes chopped off their alloted time.

Sébastien burns his butter, which means it's producing cancer-causing ingredients. Fabrizia cuts herself, not an unusual occurrence according to her intro. The judges wince and reach for their point grids in unison when they see Patrick putting raw meat in the puff pastry. He's making mini-Wellingtons so maybe he thinks he'll get away with it. No, he says he's just not familiar with Wellingtons.

Jonathan is stuffing his bison. The judges consider this risky. A couple of cheflings wrap their filet in crepes before wrapping it in dough; it turns out this is the technique Daniel Vézina will use in the post-show mini-workshop.

The judges get grouchy when they see Pierre-Laurence hanging around doing nothing while he waits for his meat to cook in the oven. To them, it looks like he's given up and has to be encouraged by the other cheflings. They worry some of the cheflings won't be able to finish. By the end, they say they're exhausted.

Pasquale says Doria had the best cooking on her bison, but she didn't have time to put the garnish on the plate. Sébastien was the only one to sear the meat in time. Patrick's bison is bland and Jean-Luc Boulay calls it a “catastrophe”. Uh-oh.

Top three:

Spoiler

3. Émilie: bison properly cooked, pastry golden, vegetables undercooked.

2. Dominic: dough not fully baked, liked the garnish.

1. Jonathan: the judges liked everything and said the garnish was impeccable.

If that's the top, the bottom must be truly awful.

Bottom four (no particular order):

Spoiler

Constance: started well, meat overcooked, sauce too sweet.

Élie: too much dough and undercooked, salad not appropriate for a gastronomic meal.

Doria: no garnish — you have to serve the client a complete plate on time.

Patrick: no color or taste to the meat, no vinaigrette on spinach salad.

Duellists:

Spoiler

Constance and Patrick

They have 15 minutes to:

- thinly slice some chives

- make 2 tomatoes concassées

- thinly slice 2 shallots

- make 1 cup of classic aioli

The watching cheflings exclaim over the lovely mortar being used. At the end, the aioli makes the difference.

Spoiler

Patrick forgot the lemon

, there's less than a cup and what there is is oxidized, there's too much garlic.

So 12 cheflings are left. Next week they'll be in teams of two.

[Shayol]

Second show, 12 cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here.

The producers have teamed up the contestants:
Jean-Philippe and Doria
Pierre-Laurence and Élie
Hakim and Émilie
Jonathan and Constance
Dominic and Fabrizia
Sébastien and Sophie

They all looked pleased with their teams. Sébastien says he would have been happy to work with any of the cheflings, because they're all talented and they all know what they're doing.

They have 2 hours to prepare a gastronomic main course from short loin of milk-fed piglet. It has to be stuffed. They're warned to debone it properly. They also have to pick which member of the team will be the chef and which the sous-chef.

Twenty minutes in, the cheflings are told they'll have to prepare an appetizer: a blood sausage (boudin noir) in casing. Several contestants say they felt there was a twist coming up. Sophie tells Daniel Vézina she's made boudin before, but not in a casing.

The judges approve of Hakim and Jonathan having a laugh at the vacuum cooker, Jonathan's butchering technique using 50% knife 50% hands, Sophie's assertiveness with Sébastien ("good communication"), Constance encouraging Jonathan when he got discouraged.

They disapprove of overstuffing pork loin, not measuring ingredients for the boudin, using alcohol (or anything else) to deglaze an aluminum pan, Dominic removing the best parts from the pork, Pierre-Laurence and Élie hogging too much stove space and also not communicating well, Jonathan stripping the meat of all its fat, Dominic reducing Fabrizia to prep cook, which means she doesn't look too happy.

Hakim and Émilie are the ones who overstuffed their meat. They run into trouble at the end with undercooked meat and raw stuffing, and have to finish on the stove.

Judges' comments after tasting:

Pierre-Laurence and Élie: boudin too dry, pork has no taste because they removed all the fat.

Hakim and Émilie: too much stuffing, undercooked, well-seasoned, but taste is good.

Jonathan and Constance: raw fat, judges found a piece of bone.

Sophie and Sébastien: well cooked, well-seasoned, stuffing undercooked; good boudin, even though the portion is too large for an appetizer.

Doria and Jean-Philippe: good boudin even if it lacked a bit of seasoning; pork overcooked, taste was good because they left a lot of fat

Fabrizia and Dominic: pork a little dry, lentils undercooked, well seasoned; good boudin.

Top two teams:

Spoiler

2. Émilie (who looks astonished) and Hakim: calm, leadership, mutual respect, good communication, even though the judges found a piece of string on the plate

1. Doria and Jean-Philippe: dynamic, intense, left the fat on the meat, so lots of taste; best boudin

Bottom two teams:

Spoiler

Pierre-Laurence and Élie: lack of communication, no passion; boudin lacking texture and taste; pork very dry. Élie says he isn't surprised to be in the bottom, since they had some trouble communicating. This comes as a surprise to Pierre-Laurence.

Constance and Jonathan: good communication; pork tough and completely lacking in taste (no fat); bouding wasn't bad, but the chutney was better than the boudin.

Duel:

Spoiler

Pierre-Laurence and Élie

They have 15 minutes to prepare 3 sauces:
- beurre rouge
- hollandaise
- sweet and sour, using maple syrup

Spoiler

Pierre-Laurence goes nuts looking for the white wine vinegar; he should be using the lemons in front of him. The other cheflings notice he seems to have given up. They also make orgasmic noises over Élie's hollandaise.

Judges: Pierre-Laurence's beurre rouge is unrecognizable. They're right – it looks like a hunk of softened butter decorated with bloody red splotches (actually shallots in red wine). The judges don't even want to taste it. Élie's hollandaise is almost perfect, while Pierre-Laurence's is more like a broth. Neither of the sweet and sour sauces is very good.

Pierre-Laurence is going home. He says he didn't understand the challenge because he's not very good at terminology and precision. Élie is thrilled to be staying.

The cheflings are told in advance what their challenge is going to be: use Quebec strawberries to make a gastronomic main course and a dessert. The cheflings all look pleased, particularly when they're told they'll be doing their own shopping. They don't look quite so pleased in next week's highlights…

[ElectricBoogalo]

I really wish I could watch this show. It sounds so much better than all the other competitive cooking shows we have here in the United States.

[WileyCoyote]

I think my favourite part of the show is the seeing the judges' reactions and hearing their comments while the cooking is going on, which you don't get on Top Chef.

Its funny that they TRY to do this on the U.S. version of Master Chef, but as with everything else on that adaptation, it fails horribly.

[Shayol]

I was wondering whether www.tou.tv -- a legit site, in case there was any doubt -- was available outside Canada. I guess not. Or maybe it's not easy to watch a show if you don't know the language that well, although I tend to get hypnotized by the cooking and feel I can actually understand German or whatever!

The judges and their comments are a big part of the show's success. (It averages more than a million viewers, which is really good for our relatively small population.) The judges aren't trying to be bitchy or witty at the contestants' expense; they're just very strict, and sometimes funny without really trying. Cooking is serious business to them. If the contestants mess up, they're told how and why very clearly. There are no waking up or brushing teeth shots, no drunken binges, no housemates nonsense. It's purely a cooking competition.

[Shayol]

Third show, 11 cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here, recipes are here.

They've done their shopping ($60, 30 minutes). They already know they have to produce a warm gastronomic main course featuring Quebec strawberries, plus a dessert with the same product. Daniel Vézina tells them they have 2 hours and warns that a sweet and savory dish means they have to taste often. Also, pastry means precision: they have to measure.

Normand Laprise mentions Jonathan should have used a spatula to scrape out one more portion of his dessert. No waste. The judges mention Hakim is looking confident and approve when he takes the time to clean up his mess thoroughly when he amateurishly (his works) spills his strawberry emulsion. He also took the time to test-cook a piece of trout. The judges also approve of Élie offering to help Hakim clean up. Sophie didn't set up her juicer properly and is getting frustrated. No sympathy from the judges: you're supposed to know your equipment.

After 30 minutes, Julie shows up. (Several contestants mention they thought they were safe once the 20-minute mark had passed.) She tells them the regular judges won't be evaluating their desserts and introduces specialists: 3 kids aged 8 or 9, who promptly inform the cheflings that they like sugar, whipped cream and chocolate in their desserts.

Sophie's day has just gotten worse: she wasn't planning a sweet dessert. Doria also has to rethink hers, because she had alcohol in it.

Normand Laprise approves of heating spices and letting them cool: it enhances the flavour if your spices at home are getting a little old. For him, "old" means two months. Heh – he'd have a fit if he checked my spice rack. Jean-Luc Boulay sees a contestant preparing a beet purée and approves: beets go well with strawberries and raspberries.

The kids (watching the competition from another room) are impressed when they see Sébastien pulling sugar. The real judges mention his pastry training is clear, but they would have waited until the end to do things like that, to make sure there was enough time. They also note that Dominic is losing control, since his knife and board aren't clean and tidy. Sébastien's scallops are looking good.

The kiddies aren't sure about the combination of cheese and strawberries. The judges agree that blue cheese might be too strong. They say the cheflings should be concentrating on the main course, not the dessert.

I see the kids have their own evaluation sheets and are writing their comments. That hovers between cute and revoltingly precocious. They cluster excitedly around the screen at the end. OK, that's cute.

Normand Laprise says he feels like crying when he looks at Sophie and Doria. Fabrizia comments that she didn't put everything she had planned on her plate and regrets she didn't keep things simple. She expects to have to duel because she messed up.

The kiddies comment that Sébastien's sugar spiral is pretty but doesn't taste like anything. Poor Sophie's bad day is getting worse: her dessert apparently stinks (literally) and the taste gets icks all around.

The real judges are a little more diplomatic. Comments on the main course during the judges' discussion:

Sophie: having a bad day, lost her smile, confused day leading to confused dish; Jean-Luc Boulay didn't like her dish at all.

Hakim: highlighted the strawberry the best, wasn't overly sweet.

Élie: scallops stuffed with strawberry and blue cheese; the bleu dominated the dish.

Sébastien: scallops stuffed with strawberry and bacon; strawberry and wasabi sauce good.

Jonathan: great technique, good cook, creative, but uncooked vegetables, too much on plate. Pasquale Vari says that's not what they expected from him.

Normand Laprise says he's disappointed with the overall performance. It should have been an easy challenge, since they were informed of it ahead of time, chose their dish and bought their ingredients.

Dominic wins the dessert challenge unanimously, even though he didn't have any whipped cream in it. The kids liked the little cake in particular.

Top 3:

Spoiler

3. Émilie: pretty dish, good beet and strawberry purée, braised smoked pork flank exceptional, melted in mouth.

2. Sébastien: good presentation, scallops well cooked, fresh and tasty wasabi vinaigrette went well with scallops.

1. Hakim: handled strawberry well, trout very well cooked, looked like a gastronomic dish too.

Hakim says he's surprised. I'm finding him nice and low-key.

Bottom 5:

Spoiler

Jonathan: too much on plate, undercooked vegetables, not seasoned. Normand Laprise called it a "cold dish," and I don't think he was referring to the temperature.

Sophie: too much smoke on her pork filet, unbalanced dish, didn't finish: no sauce, no vinegar with mustard seeds.

Jean-Philippe: spaetzli a good idea but bland, sauce was bitter, no strawberry taste. Jean-Luc Boulay informs him he didn't like the dish as a whole.

Fabrizia: respected the featured products, good acidity, elements well handled, but doesn't seem to be able to finish her dishes. It's a question of organization and time management.

Élie: scallops overcooked, rabiole bland and overcooked, no dessert.

Duelists:

Spoiler

Sophie and Élie (for the second week running).

They have 20 minutes to cook 4 vegetables (out of 6 on offer) in a tempura batter, with a sauce. I see onions, sage, fennel, zucchini, bell peppers. Doria comments she couldn't do this duel – she always buys her tempura.

As the watching cheflings note,

Spoiler

Sophie's oil isn't hot enough. She also double dips. It's always funny to see the cheflings comment on the duel. They're worried when it looks like Élie's zucchini seem to be cut too thick, but then he starts to tourner them. The judges like both sauces. Élie's veggies are more finely cut, but the batter on his sage is a bit thick. After the duel, Sophie and Élie join the others and Élie asks them how to make tempura batter. It turns out he always buys it too.

Poor Sophie is out. She messed up with the fryer and Élie's sauce was better. She says she's very disappointed with herself. She was disorganized and made bad decisions. She'll never stop cooking. She gets a big hug from Jean-Luc Boulay, who tells her she's beautiful when she's cooking.

Next week, it sounds like a classic dish: ris de veau aux morilles (sweetbreads with morels).

[Shayol]

Fourth show, 10 cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here (yum, strawberry pudding), winning recipes are here.

Assignment: 2 hours to prepare a gastronomic main course of ris de veau à la morille de feu (calf sweetbreads with fuzzy foot morels), plus a dessert that will include a crème anglaise with morels. The judges admit that morels (the featured product) are a little difficult to fit into a dessert, but Daniel Vézina says at least sweetbreads and morels go well together. Jean-Luc Boulay loves them with asparagus and cream. The judges also admit that sweetbreads are difficult for the home cook: you have to clean them under running water, pre-cook them and remove the membrane. I'm not much for offal, and this kind of talk reminds me why.

Hakim wants to raise the bar and is planning something ambitious. Élie says his work plan will be more detailed this week.

The judges like the morel powder Constance is preparing (to coat the sweetbreads, I think), and her use of the thermometer when preparing her dessert.

The judges sniff at Jean-Philippe for putting vegetables in the court-bouillon to blanch the sweetbreads ("useless"), Émilie for using a chef's torch to heat up the egg mixture for a sponge cake ("old-fashioned"), Sébastien for using a chef's knife to control his crème anglaise ("he studied pastry!"), Sébastien again for throwing away morels after using them to flavour a sauce (Jean-Luc Boulay is particularly unhappy at the waste of an expensive product, even though the judges predicted it), Élie for choosing a too-simple dessert, Hakim for using a strainer instead of a sieve, or maybe it's the other way around.

Doria drops stuff in the pantry. Émilie burns her carrots. Hakim tries to salvage some burnt cakes.

Fabrizia is cooking walnuts in caramel. Pasquale Vari says that's typical of southern Italy and very tasty, but more difficult than toasting nuts and making caramel separately. She describes her dish, which turns out to be sweetbreads "à la grenobloise". The judges doubt that morels, lemon and capers will go well together. They think Jonathan's compote looks tasty and start to sound hungry.

Élie is using the sponge cake provided by the show, saying he has no interest in pastry. Maybe that attitude is one of the reasons why he's been in the duel for the past two shows.

Fabrizia says she plated a little too early. Élie says his sweetbreads are undercooked. Constance says she's proud of what she did, no matter what the judges think.

Judges' comments while deliberating:

Jonathan gets a 5 out of 5 for the main dish from Normand Laprise. The dessert wasn't as good.

Fabrizia's dessert didn't taste of morels, but the judges liked her sweetbreads at lot after all.

Jean-Philippe tried to feature morels in his stuffing, but the stuffing tended to ooze out. (Ooh, sweetbreads and oozing stuffing. I'm rushing right out to buy some.) His dessert wasn't bad, even though it didn't taste of morels any more than Fabrizia's did.

Sébastien undercooked his sweetbreads, but had the best crème anglaise.

Doria's sweetbreads were too big to fry properly, but her morel sauce was good. The dessert wasn't up to standard and the peanuts overwhelmed.

Émilie's sweetbreads and vegetables were very well cooked, good presentation. The judges note approvingly that she's rapid, efficient and organized.

Élie's sweetbreads were undercooked, as he said. They were also pale and insipid. His dessert was boring. His crème anglaise did taste of morels.

Top 3:

Spoiler

3. Fabrizia, who says she's surprised. The judges loved her "audacious" sweetbreads with lemon and capers. Jean-Luc Boulay is thinking of putting it on his menu. Her dessert was good and fresh-tasting, even if it didn't taste of morels.

2. Jonathan, who feels relieved and proud to have delivered. The judges say his dish was truly gastronomic and his pistachio concassé was "magnificent." He handled the morels well. There were slight technical problems with dessert.

1. Émilie, who says she has reached her goal for first place — now to maintain it! Well-cooked sweetbreads, madeira and mushroom sauce very good. Dessert "harmonious."

Bottom 3:

Spoiler

Jean-Philippe: Sweetbreads badly cleaned and undercooked. The taste of sunchoke masked everything else, even though it was good, as were the green onions. (You get points for green onions?) As for the crème anglaise, the maple syrup masked the taste of morels.

Élie (who isn't surprised): Sweetbreads totally undercooked, pale and badly seasoned. The sunchoke cream was good, but too rich and intense.

Doria, who is very disappointed. She gave it her all and it wasn't enough. Doughy sweetbreads, bad frying technique, morels not featured, taste of peanuts too strong in dessert, sauce very good.

Duelists:

Spoiler

Jean-Philippe and Élie (for the third week running)

.

Ten minutes to make a sautée of shitake, hedgehog and golden enoki mushrooms.

Spoiler

Élie did a better job of cleaning the enoki, taking the time to remove the needles. He used only garlic and parsley and was inconsistent with the salt, whereas Jean-Philippe used green onions, parsley, chives (and shallots?).

Élie is leaving. The differences were minimal, but his sautée was too salty, and he should have cooked each type of mushroom separately so as not to jumble the tastes together. Normand Laprise tells him he proved he really has his place in a kitchen. Jean-Luc Boulay tells him he can leave with his head held high. Daniel Vézina says he's the type of guy everyone would like on his team. I don't really get it, because the guy has been a bottom-feeder from the very first show, but I guess he has a nice personality or something.

Next week: Haitian cuisine, with former sprinter Bruny Surin sitting in with the judges. From the previews, the cheflings don't look too familiar with Haitian food. Should be fun!

[Shayol]

Fifth show, 9 cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here.

Assignment: 2 hours to prepare an "exotic" gastronomic main course inspired by ingredients commonly used in Haitian cuisine. I spot okra, sugarcane, chayote, bitter orange, yams, manioc, beans. The cheflings look worried. This increases when they're told certain products have been removed from the pantry to make sure the Haitian aspect is highlighted.

Daniel Vézina gives them 15 minutes to plan their dish, during which time he'll explain what the special ingredients are if they want. A lot of them take him up on his offer.

Former Olympic sprinter Bruny Surin, born in Haiti, will be on hand to hand out a prize for the dish he feels most represents Haitian cuisine. He wants beans and lots of spices. A dash of tabasco also helps.Featured product is Guinea fowl, a rather ugly bird.

The judges approve as Jonathan and Hakim remove the wishbone from their birds. Jean-Philippe doesn't and can't butcher the breast properly as a result. Constance is using a chef's knife to debone her bird. Normand Laprise literally tut-tuts and reaches for his grading papers.

Fabrizia is so uncomfortable she's hard to watch. She oils her grill by dumping oil on it and rubbing it in. The judges snicker; she should have put a bit of oil on some sponge towels and oiled the grill that way. None of the cheflings are smiling. Émilie is unhappy and it shows. The judges catch their breath at her rudeness when she continues to concentrate on her cooking while Daniel Vézina is talking to her.

The judges like that Jean-Philippe is using sugarcane. Jonathan's ballotine has burst in the sous-vide machine. Pasquale Vari says the pressure was probably too high. Jonathan starts over. Hakim is basting madly. Jean-Luc Boulay, French to the core, approves. Jonathan is familiar with okra from Lebanese cuisine, but he's having trouble with it anyway: it's falling apart. Judgely disapproval for a chefling's bare fingers on a mandoline. Doria says she messed up trussing her drumsticks, and with Daniel Vézina standing right next to her too.

Daniel Vézina says the dishes will be good, but not very Haitian. The judges agree Hakim's bean and okra ragout looks tasty and get their hungry looks on again.

Sébastien tells us that whenever Daniel Vézina warns them there's one minute left, the surge of adrenalin is indescribable. It looks like Émilie has tears in her eyes after the end of this challenge.

Bruny Surin likes the way the cheflings encourage and congratulate each other after time has run out. It reminds him of his competitive days.

Constance thinks she went too heavy with the bitter orange. The camera then follows Jean-Luc Boulay as he tastes her dish, wanders to the sidelines to drink a large glass of water and returns to her station. Uh-oh.

Bruny Surin goes off by himself to determine which dish is the "most Haitian." He says he has three frontrunners and it will be close.

Judges' comments while deliberating:

Hakim: Suprême de pintade rôti, cuisse confite au cari, ragoût de haricots noirs, plantain frit, avocat à la lime et à la coriandre. Under control, highlighted the exotic products.

Jean-Philippe: Suprême de pintade avec à l'huile de coco, ragoût avec cuisse de pintade effilochée. When the judges asked him if he had anything else, he said no. That can't be good. He's been on a roller coaster, one week up, the next week down. His presentations are always bistro style.

Dominic: Poitrine de pintade rôtie, ballotine de cuisse de pintade, ragoût de haricots, poivrons et coriandre, chutney pomélo et chayotte. A good technician but Jean-Luc Boulay didn't like his dish at all – too smoky.

Émilie: Suprême de pintade rôtie au curry, purée de pommes de terre douces et bananes, cuisse farcie au riz de jasmin. Very tasty purée, juicy fowl, cooked to perfection. Jean-Luc Boulay liked the taste of curry.

Fabrizia: Cuisse de pintade braisée aux oranges amères, oignons et okra, purée de pommes de terre douces. She looked unhappy during the whole two hours. The presentation wasn't great, but the taste was good. As a matter of fact, Pasquale Vari thinks it tasted great.

Constance: Roulée d'aubergines avec ragoût de pintade, poitrine poêlée avec pesto de coriandre, plantain au caramel à l'orange amère. Tasteless dish, butchering skills lacking.

Sébastien: Haut de cuisse de pintade lacqué à la sauce barbecue maison, curry de carottes caramélisées. Highlighted products, particularly the black beans. Good salsa, nice presentation.

Jonathan: Paupiette de pintade farcie de pommes de terre sucrées, pintade confite à la crème. No comments.

Doria: Poitrine de pintade rôtie, ballotine farcie de poireau et chayotte. No comments heard.

Bruny Surin's special mention

Spoiler

goes to Sébastien

. The spiciness and heat made the difference for him.

Top 3:

Spoiler

3. Fabrizia: the judges liked her purée and the doneness of her drumstick, which went well with the bitter orange.

2. Émilie: great taste, well-seasoned, breast of Guinea fowl moist and tasty.

1. Hakim: everything was tasty and hot, crunchy plantain chips, avocado chunks brought freshness.

Bottom 3:

Spoiler

Constance, who looks aggressive, hands on hips: good ideas, too much coriander in pesto.

Jean-Philippe: presentation more suited to a pub, dish more Thai than Haitian.

Dominic: unbalanced dish, ingredients didn't work together properly.

Duelists:

Spoiler

Constance, who now looks defeated, and Jean-Philippe, for the second week running

.

They have ten minutes to truss a chicken and to prepare and truss a leg of lamb. In the workshop after the show, Daniel Vézina will take about a minute to truss both the chicken and the leg of lamb, the latter being particularly fascinating to me. The cheflings have considerably more trouble!

Spoiler

Constance is removing fat from the lamb when she shouldn't. Jean-Philippe says he hasn't trussed anything since 2007, in school. Constance has never trussed a leg of lamb (or a chicken, from the look of it) and keeps apologizing to the poor animal.

The judges gaze at the mess that is Constance's carved-up and semi-trussed leg of lamb, and decide it's good only for braising.

Normand Laprise says he expected better from both of them — this is basic technique.

Spoiler

Constance is leaving. The judges say neither of them got the chicken right, and Jean-Philippe did a bit better with the leg of lamb. Jean-Philippe is unhappy that he didn't do better. He had to hope that someone did worse than him, instead of just doing a good job.

Jean-Luc Boulay tells Constance her energy will take her far.

He seems to have taken it upon himself to say something uplifting to everyone when they're kicked out.

Next week, we'll have a theme show, based on the Transat Québec St-Malo, a tallships race between Quebec City and Saint-Malo in France. The cheflings are told it will be a maritime menu, they'll be teamed up, and the featured product will be Stimpson's surf clam. Never heard of it, but that's no surprise.

According to the previews, there will be a twist next week. Eels. Live eels.

[Shayol]

Sixth show, 8 cheflings remaining. We're at midpoint. Show is here, workshops (scallops!) are here, winning recipes (with photos) are here.

Assignment: 2 hours to prepare one hot and one cold appetizer. The hot appetizer must include Stimpson's surf clams. We see clam feet (mostly shipped to Japan to be fried and made into sushi) and clam bodies (mostly consumed locally). The clams are partially cooked, apparently. The cheflings get the use of a gas burner, two induction burners, a small space and a limited assortment of knives and pans. No stove. We're imitating a ship's galley.

The show pairs up the contestants:

- Émilie and Sébastien
- Fabrizia and Hakim
- Doria and Dominic
- Jonathan and Jean-Philippe

The show brings in an actor and director, Yves Desgagnés, who comes from a sailing. He's thrilled to be there, since he watches the show. He'll give a small prize for his favourite dish.

The judges say the cheflings will have to be organized and structured, since there are two of them in working in a limited space. They don't want to see one team member doing the hot appetizer and the other the cold one.

Daniel Vézina warns them to be careful of injuries with all the seafood they'll be shelling (there's a lot of it in the baskets, not just the surf clams) and gives them 5 minutes to plan their work. When that's done, we get another twist: a third appetizer, with eels. The cheflings snicker and tell us they were expecting a twist this time. Eels may not be popular in Quebec, where the Transat begins, but they're popular in Normandy, where the race finishes.

We see the cheflings trying to fish out the live eels with nets, the judges commenting that they could be using their hands. The eels try to escape repeatedly. Normand Laprise sighs that all you have to do is cover them with a damp towel. The show spares us the sight of heads being chopped off, but not of skin being pulled off (like pantyhose according to Normand Laprise). Sébastien and Émilie do it properly, working as a team with Sébastien holding the eel and Émilie pulling off the skin.

Well, that was fun.

Oh, and apparently you can't make sushi out of raw eel because the blood is toxic. Mmmm-yum. You can, however, have smoked eel sushi.

The judges approve of the way Hakim fillets the eel and also of his knife skills. As the cheflings tell Daniel Vézina what they'll be preparing, the judges start salivating. More drooling over the scallops provided by the show, which are large and beautiful. The judges are in a jolly mood now.

The camera shows Jonathan and Jean-Philippe working separately and not talking. Jonathan tells Daniel Vézina they haven't decided what to do with the eel yet; they're discussing it while they work. The camera then shows Jonathan and Jean-Philippe… working separately and not talking. Uh-oh. Normand Laprise says they must be texting each other. He notes that Jonathan is constantly checking up on Jean-Philippe and tasting what he's doing. Yes, you need a leader, but not to the point where the other loses confidence and you end up by yourself.

Sébastien is having trouble whipping his tempura. The judges think maybe tempura isn't such a good idea in a galley. Pasquale Vari is pleased to see Hakim's ingenious use of a water bath to warm his plates. Doria's sabayon isn't rising like it should.

The judges taste and… find bones in the eel dishes. Émilie tells us it's her fault because she was responsible for the eel dish, but her teammate Sébastien tells her the taste was there and that's more important. Hakim and Fabrizia describe how they felt when one of the judges pulled eel bones out of his mouth. In the workshop at the end of the show, Daniel Vézina tells them it's easier to do a check for bones after the eel is cooked. That's also when you remove the final bits of eel skin. These are more eel cooking tips than I'll ever need.

Judges' comments after tasting:

Émilie and Sébastien: nice acidity in ceviche; well seasoned, tasty sauce.

Hakim and Fabrizia: three magnificent dishes, to the point that Normand Laprise and Jean-Luc Boulay can't criticize anything. I don't think that's ever happened before in any season.

Jonathan and Jean-Philippe: clam not very present, chowder very good but the other two dishes weren't at the same level.

Dominic and Doria: great presentation, sauce not totally successful, seasoning a little light.

Yves Desgagnés says he was astonished by their skill. The dishes were all sophisticated and refined. He tells us all the dishes were at a very high level and it will be difficult to pick one winner. He does anyway:

Spoiler

Fabrizia and Hakim

. He thanks everyone for the invitation and tells the cheflings he's looking forward to eating at their restaurants.

Jean-Luc Boulay tells us, then the cheflings that they all did well: creativity, imagination, gastronomic presentations. He congratulates them for admirable work.

Good food certainly puts people in a good mood…

The judges pick their top team:

Spoiler

Fabrizia and Hakim. They showed respect for the products. The ceviche was balanced, as was the eel dish. Normand Laprise says they get a ten out of ten from him.

There's one bottom team, whose members will go to duel:

Spoiler

Jean-Philippe and Jonathan. Their salad had more vegetables than seafood. Their warm appetizer was the most successful dish; it had a nice harmony.

Doria is in tears.

Duel: 20 minutes to make matchstick and waffle fries, with homemade mayonnaise. They also have to turn as many potatoes cocottes as they can.

Spoiler

I notice Jean-Philippe is cutting regular fries rather than matchstick fries. I don't realize that Jonathan is cutting straw fries rather than matchsticks, but the judges do.

The cheflings watch in awe as Jonathan uses his fingers to check his fries in the boiling oil. They decide he must be nuts.

The judges criticize the size of the fries. The waffle fries are OK.

Spoiler

Jean-Philippe's fries aren't crunchy enough.

Neither mayo is that great

Spoiler

, but Jonathan's tastes more like a mayo. Jonathan's cocottes are better.

The judges aren't impressed.

Spoiler

Jonathan stays.

There are some tears for Jean-Philippe. He seems to be well liked, and I think everyone is borderline exhausted as well. Jean-Philippe tells us he learned a lot and he has a lot to learn.

Next week: It looks like the remaining cheflings will prepare a midsummer Christmas meal.

[Shayol]

Seventh show, seven cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here, winning recipes with photos are here.

Assignment: 2 hours to prepare two traditional Christmas dishes, but fine dining and suitable for summer. At least one of the dishes must feature fresh cranberries. I suppose family traditions vary, but roast turkey with tons of stuffing, tourtières (except my grandmother's recipe uses hare, venison, pork/boar and moose (if available), and meat pies are pretty standard, plus tons of mashed potatoes. With gravy. Plus dessert. Let's just say it's not exactly light fare.

Normand Laprise says he wants something light and fresh. Jean-Luc Boulay wants to see and taste the cranberries. Pasquale Vari is dreaming of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

I'm not sure they're going to get any of that! Hakim and Jonathan were both surprised by the challenge. Fabrizia can't think of anything. She tells us she's just blanking out. For Émilie, this is the toughest challenge yet. The judges note she has just recently arrived from France, so the notion of traditional Quebec fare might cause a problem.

Jean-Luc Boulay, who often thinks the cheflings use the sous-vide machine unnecessarily, says sous vide is a great technique for cooking turkey. Normand Laprise suggests that Jonathan should refrain from sticking his fingers in the meat grinder to push in the meat. Fabrizia informs Daniel Vézina she has decided to make mushroom stuffed chicken, a Sicilian dish. Mushrooms, yum. She doesn't know what her second dish will be. She was thinking of braised rabbit, but braising isn't very summery.

Ooh! My grandmother would like Hakim. He's cooking hare and turkey drumsticks. Jean-Luc Boulay notes he should have started with the turkey since he's planning to make a confit. Sébastien is basing his dishes on his family's traditions, including their favourite songs. So a stuffed bird of some sort, plus venison, both dishes with cranberries. He seems unfazed by the challenge.

Now Jonathan is using the wrong utensil when making his cranberry mousse. The judges say there's no need to truss something, then laugh when they see him wrap not one but two layers of plastic film around it. His food had better taste good, because the judges take points off for this kind of thing.

The judges start to panic when they see Doria leaving her veal in the skillet. It will be overcooked, if not actually burned. Doria tells us no worries, she didn't forget about it. She wants to include it in her tartare and it will taste great, like steak instead of raw meat. Isn't that the point of tartare, though?

Another twist. Julie Bélanger interrupts the cooking to give each chefling a gift: a nicely wrapped basket of exotic fruit (I see passion fruit, papaya, carambola, pitahaya, Japanese persimmon, among others). The cheflings have to make a ketchup or chutney out of them. Fabrizia informed us she was demoralized when the fruit came in. Sébastien was destabilized because he had never worked with three or four of those fruit. Julie Bélanger tells the judges she's never given gifts that have been so little appreciated. The judges giggle. Jean-Luc Boulay says he's not worried: the contestants are all creative.

Normand Laprise and Jean-Luc Boulay, both restaurant owners and chefs, agree that Émilie is a quick worker, the type who is cost effective in the kitchen. She does the work of two. Some job offers coming her way? Doria is chopping away. Jean-Luc Boulay says that if all of his workers worked this quickly, he could go on vacation more often.

The judges are skeptical about Jonathan's meatloaf: there are no eggs to bind it. They think Dominic is on fire (not literally!). Émilie is leaving the meat a bit late. Doria's rolled meat is still raw. She burns herself on a pot handle, and then despairs when she forgets her cranberries.

When time is called, Doria and Fabrizia are in tears or close to it.

As the judges taste everything, Fabrizia tells us she's ashamed of what she is serving. Émilie says she's feeling sick because she knows it wasn't good. According to Sébastien, the best part of the day was when one of the judges took a second bite of his venison dish.

In the waiting room, Fabrizia tells Émilie it was the worst two hours of her life. Émilie sympathizes.

Judges' comments after tasting:

Doria: tartare not well executed, good ballotine, not much in the way of cranberries, bland

Hakim: disappointing, turkey dry, lacking sauce and seasoning

Fabrizia: basic idea good but too simple; asparagus raw, beef without sauce or vinaigrette, unfinished, uncertain

Dominic: liked the tartare although it needed more salt, ballotine and sauce good

Jonathan: meatloaf OK, mushroom sauce with cranberries not good

Sébastien: original, well seasoned, good acidity, overall very good

Émilie: first dish OK, veal a disaster. Pasquale Vari uses the dreaded word “inedible.” Uh-oh.

Normand Laprise tells us the winner was easy to pick, but the losers and duelists were tougher. Overall, it wasn't a well-executed challenge: there were lots of errors.

Top two:

Spoiler

2. Dominic: Tartare de cerf with cranberries, walnuts and cranberries, ballotine de poulet with bread stuffing, rosemary, onions. Venison tartare good even if it lacked salt, ballotine good, garnish and stuffing impeccable

1. Sébastien: Roulade de volaille farcie aux champignons, épinards et vieux cheddar, gigue de cerf. Both vinaigrettes were fresh, the venison was well cooked, the stuffing for the roulade was tasty.

Bottom:

Spoiler

Émilie: meat was tough, which is a shame because the side dishes were good

Fabrizia: beef good, rest bland and badly seasoned

Doria: idea good but poorly executed, tartare dry and lacking seasoning, ballotine lacking stuffing

Hakim: turkey insufficiently cooked, hare was under as well, great technique but the aim is to deliver good food

Duelists:

Spoiler

Fabrizia and Doria. Both look devastated but

unsurprised, if such a thing is possible.

The watching cheflings exclaim in dismay as they see kidneys.

Spoiler

Jonathan tells them Fabrizia hates kidneys and has never cooked them.

The duelists have 15 minutes to cook rognons de veau flambée au cognac, avec sauce à la moutarde (veal kidneys flambéed with cognac, mustard sauce).

Spoiler

Fabrizia has trouble cutting the kidneys; Doria's are more regular. Fabrizia has better sautée technique, but doesn't leave time for the meat to rest.

Fabrizia is leaving. Doria's rognons were fully cooked and Fabrizia's sauce was too salty. I had Fabrizia pegged as a possible top three. All it takes is one bad day…

Judges and contestants fall over themselves to congratulate Fabrizia: her food is always tasty, she should be proud of herself, it was just bad luck.

Previews: Relay cooking in teams of two.

[Shayol]

Eighth show, six cheflings remain. Show is here, workshops are here, winning recipes with photos are here.

Assignment: This week we’ll be testing team spirit. Inspired by the Olympics, the cheflings will be paired up in a relay. They have 10 minutes at the start to discuss and plan together, and draw up their lists. The first team member will have 40 minutes to start two fine dining appetizers featuring green asparagus and cheese. A huge table covered with a fine variety of cheese is rolled out. Then they’ll have 45 seconds to discuss until the second chefling takes over for 40 minutes. They’ll work together for the last ten minutes.

Teams, with the contestant who will start things off listed first:

Doria and Émilie, who feel more pressure because they're the last two women in the kitchen
Sébastien and Hakim, who are happy because they're similar in the kitchen
Dominic and Jonathan, who feel they complete each other

The judges want to see teamwork on both dishes, and note that you have to taste unfamiliar cheese both raw and cooked. As the competition starts, Normand Laprise considers Hakim a natural leader. Pasquale Vari hasn’t seen any technical errors to date.

When their turn is over, both Sébastien and Doria look depressed because they’re afraid they let their partners down. (It turns out both Hakim and Émilie are happy with the work they've done.) Daniel Vézina is worried because Jonathan and Dominic’s mise en place lists aren’t clear.

Jean-Luc Boulay says Sébastien and Hakim are impressive tonight. The judges enjoy seeing all the different techniques of cooking asparagus. Jean-Luc Boulay admires the beautiful colour of Hakim’s asparagus purée. Julie Bélanger says, referring to the Olympics, that Émilie is an athlete in the kitchen. The judges note that Jonathan and Dominic are still not communicating. Each is working quietly on his own dish, while the members of the other two teams are shown talking frantically as they finish up.

Top team:

Spoiler

Hakim and Sébastien: respected the

product; perfect mushroom and cheese soup; nice summery appetizers; harmonious dishes. Jean-Luc Boulay calls it gustatory joy.

Bottom teams:

Spoiler

Émilie and Doria: great salad, well presented

; would have liked more asparagus; undercooked salsify; fantastic asparagus beurre blanc; interesting dishes.

Spoiler

Jonathan and Dominic: cheese mi-pris very good. They each did one appetizer, which is why they ended up with an asparagus salad on each plate. Lacking creativity. They should have consulted. They also didn’t feature the asparagus. (I’m not sure how they did that with asparagus salads, but that’s what the judges think.)

General comment from Pasquale Vari: The food was generally very good. The contestants wanted to do well and they did.

Spoiler

Duel: Jonathan and Dominic. They

have 25 minutes to prepare a risotto with two cheeses and cooked spinach. The watching cheflings are stressing out.

Both forget the white wine. Pasquale Vari, when judging, says not everyone uses white wine to deglaze, but with two cheeses the acidity is welcome. I think the judges also expected them to purée the spinach and make a risotto verde, but they didn’t.

Spoiler

Anyway, Dominic remembers the wine midway through his risotto, reduces it, then seems to dump the rice in it. Not too sure about that.

Jonathan is leaving. Dominic’s risotto turns out to be creamier, while Jonathan’s is too dry. Pasquale Vari tells them that while their basic technique was good, Dominic’s risotto had better taste and texture, which is pretty much not just basic but essential if you ask me.

Normand Laprise tells Jonathan he has talent. Jean-Luc Boulay tells us Jonathan is an artist in the kitchen. Jonathan tells us he learned a lot and still has a lot to learn.

Next week: Looks like the cheflings will be cooking marcassin (young boar).

[Shayol]

Ninth show, five cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here, winning recipes with photos are here.

Assignment: The pasta challenge sneaks in without being noticed! The featured product is fesse de marcassin (leg of young boar), which Sébastien can't identify at first. However, the cheflings will also have to prepare an appetizer: fresh pasta stuffed with marcassin.

Even worse, after their 10 minutes of planning is up, they won't have access to pantry or any other products except what they've placed on their workstations. Émilie tells us this will be tough for her: she tends to dash back and forth to pick up ingredients.

Marcassin (hey, it sounds better than young boar or shoat or farrow) is a lean, delicate meat, so the cheflings will have to watch their cooking times. Daniel Vézina tells them the appetizer will be marked on the originality of pasta and the taste of the stuffing. Doria tells us that 10 minutes to make up a plan and pick your ingredients isn't very long, particularly when you don't know what you're doing.

Julie Boulanger is surprised that the contestants are starting with the pasta, but Jean-Luc Boulay points out that pasta has to rest. He also rolls his eyes at Doria using the Thermomix to make her pasta: in such small quantities, it's faster to make it by hand. Doria starts kneading her dough in the bowl, to Pasquale Vari's surprised disapproval.

Jean-Luc Boulay points out Émilie has the perfect pasta-making technique. That doesn't last, since Émilie then debones the marcassin the way they've been taught to do it in the workshops, only to end up cutting the meat. Waste of time. The judges snicker and say it's a good thing she's a fast worker. Normand Laprise is disappointed: he thought she would roast it whole.

Sébastien is having problems with his green (spinach, I think) pasta. It's too dry and won't go through the pasta-maker easily. Émile and Doria aren't holding their cleavers properly — they're supposed to hold the handle by the end, so as to get more momentum or something.

The judges approve as someone uses the foot to make sauce: you don't want all that flavour and collagen to go to waste. Doria is dropping things all around her workstation: nerves, she says. The judges are appalled as Dominic lets the mixer overknead his pasta. He says he doesn't want the pasta to become too elastic. The judges don't look convinced, but are willing to wait and see. Or wait and taste.

Surprisingly, Émilie is enjoying the pantry limitation: she can concentrate on her work. She usually spends too much time dashing back and forth to get items. From now on, she'll try to plan ahead and continue working like this.

Normand Laprise tut-tuts as he sees sauce being made in a non-stick pan.

Disaster: For the first time in three seasons, some competitors have been unable to finish their plates. Shades of Chopped! Hakim beats his head against the fridge, kind of hard unless the producers amped up the sound. Sébastien is crouched in despair against another fridge. Hakim goes to comfort him.

Hakim tells us he deserves to go to duel for being too disorganized to finish. Sébastien is ashamed of his food. Doria tells us she deliberately kept things simple so she would be sure to finish. Jean-Luc Boulay is disappointed. He was really looking forward to the marcassin challenge.

Judges' comments after tasting:

Dominic: best ravioli, interesting purée and vinaigrette

Émilie: the only one with tender marcassin and the only one who cooked it in traditional fashion (the others all went for sous vide); well-seasoned

Sébastien: bland and uncooked cannelloni, bland tomato sauce, tough pasta

Doria: everything on the plate was well prepared, sauce was one of her hits, ravioli could have been richer and better seasoned

Hakim: started well, ravioli too thick and didn't cook through, boudin de marcassin not good, rest of dish missing

Normand Laprise tells us he's puzzled: the challenge was difficult but doable. He's surprised Sébastien and Hakim had so much trouble.

Top 2:

2

Spoiler

- Dominic: sauce a bit overwhelming, cappelletti nice and delicate, good stuffing, nice acidity in jus

1- Émilie: ravioli not technically perfect, but the taste was there; mushroom and marcassin stuffing very good

Duelists:

Spoiler

the guys who didn't finish this week (and who won last week), Hakim and Sébastien. I had both of them pegged as finalists. They're both told that if they had finished their dishes they might not have been in the bottom two. Sébastien says he's paying the price for being too ambitious.

Duel: Each gets a whole salmon. They have 25 minutes to cut as many 160 gram portions as possible, then brunoise as much of the rest for a tartare. Both have problems getting the 160 grams right. (Anything from 150 to 170 grams will be considered acceptable by the judges.)

Spoiler

Doria looks like she's watching a horror movie.

Hakim cuts himself and is so concentrated he doesn't even realize it until Daniel Vézina shows up with a bandaid. Sébastien is shaking from the pressure.

At the end they hug and tell each other they smell like fish.

Spoiler

Sébastien has fewer 160-gram portions but more "acceptable" ones than Hakim. However, he included some tail in the portions, which isn't acceptable in a fine dining restaurant. He put flank in the tartare, also unacceptable. The judges check the salmon carcasses. Hakim did a better job butchering, while Sébastien broke the salmon's spine when filleting. He's leaving.

Jean-Luc Boulay tells him he has fantastic talent: it was just a bad day. Doria is crying.

It seems like the show is taking a one-week break (tennis, anyone?). Next challenge will involve Arctic char. And will have have another first - conflict in the kitchen?

[Shayol]

No, no real conflict, just a mixup over plates. Doria explains, Hakim apologizes and nothing more is made of it.

So, on to the show. Tenth show, just four cheflings remaining. Show is here, workshops are here, winning recipes (why no photos?!!) are here.

We've got details on the final. It will be a "duel" between two finalists, instead of three like the first two seasons. Also, it looks like they'll be serving a group of about fifty people with the help of a brigade of cooks, also unlike the previous seasons.

Back to this show. Assignment: Prepare four appetizers, two hot and two cold, using all parts of two Arctic char. They have two hours. Hakim has a big smile when he sees the fish.

Daniel Vézina warns them they'll have to use different techniques, particularly since they're using the whole fish. This is going to be a problem for Émilie, who tells us she really doesn't know what to do with the offal. Pasquale Vari informs Julie Bélanger that the head can be used to make a broth, the bones to flavour a sauce, the skin to be fried into chips, and the remaining flesh to make mini-brochettes.

The judges note Émilie is butchering her fish backward; apparently she should be cutting toward her. Technically, they rank Dominic first, then Hakim, then Émilie, and last Doria, whose fish looks a bit mangled. The judges don't think fish should be handled so much with warm hands.

The judges grumble that the cheflings shouldn't be wasting time with peas, cucumbers and the like. They should be starting with the featured product, then add the other stuff if they have 15 minutes at the end. Jean-Luc Boulay says it's been a problem since the beginning: spending too much time on non-essentials.

The judges note Doria is wasting a lot of her fish. Doria explains her workplan to Daniel Vézina. It seems pretty loaded. The judges say she has good ideas, but often lacks the experience and technique to carry them out properly. Understandable, since she's 24 while the three others are 30 or thereabouts.

The judges exclaim about uncooked vegetables when Émilie pours out the water from her pot. Jean-Luc Boulay points out that the carrots are raw. Uh-oh.

Daniel Vézina tells Julie Bélanger that char is bland when served cold, so salt and acidity will be important.

The judges note that Dominic is being careful to check the time while making his vinaigrettes. Jean-Luc Boulay is happy about the vinaigrettes since he feels they go well with the delicate taste of fish, but he likes sauces too. The judges tease him and ask if there's anything he doesn't like. Jean-Luc Boulay says Émilie is making her chips too late: she should just forget about them.

One of Hakim's sauces looks burned around the edges and he's making things worse by scraping the bottom of the pan. On the other hand, the judges like that he's contrasting shapes, colours and textures. Doria is grilling her fish, and the grill is way too hot. The fish is practically on fire.

Hugs and relief all around when the cheflings finish. Hakim's plate of four appetizers looks particularly lovely.

Dominic tells us he was happy when he finished, but when he saw what the other contestants had done, he thought his four plates were too simple. Émilie says her dishes were ugly and cheap. Doria is glad she finally got to use a Doria garnish (cucumbers tournés and sautéed in butter), which she's been wanting to do since the beginning. Hakim is just happy he finished this time.

Comments from the judges:

Hakim – Pasquale Vari expected more from him after what happened last week. His tataki wasn't really tataki, but the taste was fine. Steamed char good; bouillon tasty; fish overcooked; vinaigrette impeccable; asparagus tartare bland.

Émilie – Her garnish, cauliflower purée and sauces overwhelmed the delicate taste of the char, which wasn't featured. Potage good.

Dominic – Ceviche good; impeccable texture for tasty bouillabaisse.

Doria – Soup excellent; burned char; good marriage of flavours; marinated fish cut too thick.

Normand Laprise thinks overall the contestants did well. Jean-Luc Boulay feels they showed a lot of creativity.

Winner:

Spoiler

Dominic, who tells us he's surprised and relieved. Normand Laprise tells him his dishes were well executed. The tenor of the comments seems to imply maybe he wasn't

the most creative of the four.

Duel:

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Émilie and Doria.

They have 25 minutes to prepare a Dover sole amandine, including trimming, skinning and filleting the fish.

Spoiler

Doria cuts the tail off right away and has trouble skinning it because she has nothing to hold on to.

Normand Laprise says both are lacking in technique.

Spoiler

Émilie didn't heat her plate and the butter started to congeal a little. (A former contestant once said it's the first thing the judges check when they come out to taste the food.) Doria didn't flour her fish and it turned out a bit pale. Émilie didn't use enough almonds.

The judges want lots of butter and almonds. They say it's close, but they'll go with the one who has better technique.

Spoiler

Doria is leaving. Everyone compliments her as a cook and as a person. Doria tells us she's sad to be leaving, but also proud of what she's accomplished, and it's rare she's proud of herself. Awww. She learned a lot. This was her first competition ever.

[Leshyn63]

Shayol, these recaps are absolutely wonderful! It's as if you are interpreting these programs for the blind, in that we cannot see the images, but can imagine them vividly through your descriptions. Thank you SO much for taking the time to share these programs with all of us. Or should I say, "Merci!"

[Shayol]

Thank you, Leshyn63! I really enjoy the show, even when I get a little bummed out over the results. I also feel that maybe some people may want to watch the show online and, even if they don't speak French, they'll be able to understand roughly what's going on.

I'm a bit late posting -- long weekend and all that. This is the penultimate show, one last chefling to be eliminated so we can have our "duel" finale. Show is here. I won't post the links to the workshops or the winning recipes (which are actually the same every week); with the finale coming up, they become kind of spoilery.

Featured product is organic red and while wine from Les Pervenches, a small winery in the Eastern Townships. Everyone gets to taste the wines beforehand. Hakim seems to know what he's talking about. He says the white, Seyval-Chardonnay, has nice acidity, and the red, Solinou (a frontenac, which I never even heard of *ashamed*), is fruity with light tannins.

We're doing a Chopped! The cheflings have 20 minutes to prepare a hot appetizer with oysters and herbs, 40 minutes to prepare a cold appetizer with marinated fish and a gelée, and 60 minutes to prepare a main course with magret de canard de Barbarie (duck breast) and foie gras. Illegal in California, but fortunately still OK here.

Jean-Luc Boulay is looking forward to the oysters, which according to him are the best way to start a meal. He says the cheflings should be careful not to use strongly flavoured herbs and they'll have to work quickly with only 20 minutes. The judges are worried Hakim won't finish (again). Normand Laprise gets impatient when he sees Hakim put almonds on his plates and risk leaving off the sauce.

Dominic says he didn't have time to put his garnish on the plate, but the judges are impressed with all three oyster appetizers.

Now for the marinated sea bass.

Normand Laprise notices Émilie is daring to mix tomatoes with citrus. She'll have to pay attention to proportions. Hakim's cuts are more precise than Dominic's. Émilie thinks her plating looks a little unfinished.

All three contestants are still in the game according to the judges. They're working fast and well.

On to the main course.

Jean-Luc Boulay approves of Hakim tasting the vegetable cooking water for salt. He also likes Dominic's beurre rouge, made with the red wine and with foie gras instead of butter. Just from looking at it, Jean-Luc Boulay can tell Hakim's foie gras isn't perfect. However, he's licking his lips over Dominic's. He's definitely giving extra points to Dominic for the double dose of foie gras. The judges aren't happy to see Hakim put his foie gras in the oven.

To be honest, both his and Dominic's foie gras looks a little shriveled to me. When tasting Dominic's dish, Jean-Luc Boulay whispers to Normand Laprise that they don't have the same foie gras. Émilie apparently didn't plate one of her sauces.

Overall evaluations:

Émilie – oysters were a little too sweet, not enough herbs; fish lacking fat and salt; main dish, both foie gras and duck, good but a bit simple. Her foie gras really looks good to me.

Hakim – very delicate oyster dish; fish needed more fat; main dish was good, although there was too much (unnecessary) corn in the garnish.

Dominic – oyster dish well thought out but not salted; fish lacking salt; there were too many flavours going on in his main dish. He did the best at featuring the wine.

The good work from all three forces the judges to check details (i.e. nitpick). Jean-Luc Boulay tells us he would prefer not to be a judge tonight. Normand Laprise tells the cheflings the decision was very close.

Winner:

Spoiler

Hakim. He tells us he tried not to cry when he was announced as a finalist. The judges praise his technique, creativity, flavours and seasoning.

That pretty much covers it all!

Duel:

Spoiler

Dominic and Émilie.

They have to make a poultry consommé with poultry quenelles. Both are adding egg whites to their quenelles, which is apparently bad for texture.

Spoiler

Hakim is going crazy in the waiting-room supporting Dominic. I suddenly don't like Hakim quite so much. I hadn't even realized I was supporting Émilie so much.

Spoiler

Émilie is going home. Her consommé wasn't as clear as Dominic's: she let it boil. His

quenelles were a bit rubbery but tasted better.

Spoiler

So it's a boys' club again.

I didn't mind so much in the previous years, since the cheflings whose food I most wanted to taste were in the finals. This time, I would ten times rather go to

Spoiler

Émilie's and Sébastien's restaurants (if and when they get one) than to Dominic's or Hakim's. It's particularly frustrating because, from the judges' comments, I'm pretty sure Émilie was second on the night and Dominic third.

Émilie is taking it well. She says she never thought she'd finish third. Maybe she's relieved it's all over. Or maybe she's just enjoying Dominic's

beauty-queen reaction to winning.

Finale coming up.

Spoiler

Hakim and Dominic will

have to serve a cold entrée, a main course and a dessert for 50 people, leading a brigade of 3 cooks. This is a first for the show. No featured products or anything like that.

[Shayol]

It's the finale! Show is here.

The two finalists will have to prepare an appetizer, main course and dessert for fifty contest winners (and therefore serious fans) plus the three judges. They have seven hours to do this. It's not specifically mentioned, but it looks like they have staggered starts and separate times allocated specifically for plating, like in past years. There are no featured products either — the finalists have carte blanche.

Each finalist will have a team of three people helping them. No drunken or resentful eliminated contestants! We see them interviewing and evaluating graduating students from Montreal's Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec and Quebec City's École hôtelière de la Capitale, so they were able to pick their cooks. Only Dominic has a female student.

Daniel Vézina warns that being a chef means delegating, which means that you have to check your brigade's work. He tells Dominic and Hakim he's proud of both of them. They have creativity and technique.

Hakim says they didn't consult each other, but both he and Dominic have mackerel appetizers and lamb main courses.

Hakim's menu:

Maquereau d'Espagne confit, variation de tomates confites, concassées, en compote au paprika fumé et à cru, purée d'avocat, brunaise de concombre au cumin et harissa

Selle d'agneau rôtie sur os, purée de chou-fleur, girolles, courgettes et amandes, jus au citron confit et olive violette

Moelleux au chocolat sable, framboises et glace au basilic

Dominic's menu:

Maquereau du Québec fumé au bois d'érable, caviar d'esturgeon du Nouveau-Brunswick, écrevisse dans un bouillon de nage

Selle d'agneau des prés salée et rôtie de la Gaspésie, espuma de maïs, tomates confites, frites de polenta et gremolata

Bleuets de l'île d'Orléans dans un sirop de mélisse avec meringue de chèvre

That's the simplified form of the menus *rolleyes*. It's why I tend to check the English translations on menus to find out what I'm eating: more direct, if less poetic.

Hakim is butchering the lamb himself. Dominic is giving a butchery class to one of his cooks. Jean-Luc Boulay says this isn't the time. Normand Laprise says Dominic is teaching her to remove too much meat and fat; if you're going to teach, you should be doing it right.

Hakim, who was always smiling and friendly during the previous shows, turns out to be a tough leader in the kitchen. Hakim Ramsay, without the cursing. He's ordering his team around, directing his students to stop working and look at him when he's talking to them, insisting on checking everything, telling them to consult him for everything, to the point where, at one point, one of the students timidly asks him if he can go get a drink of water. It probably doesn't gain him points with Normand Laprise, at least, who says he's a bit of a "control freak," although he admits it's just a different way of running a kitchen.

Jean-Luc Boulay says Dominic isn't seasoning equally, so he'll end up with a filet with too much pepper and not enough garlic, while Normand Laprise will get the opposite. Then they'll argue with each other. Normand Laprise smiles and says, "As usual" and everybody laughs.

Hakim is cooking lamb the traditional way (on the stove), Dominic sous vide. Normand Laprise says Dominic is doing a good job of getting his team on board. Dominic is very tight on the crayfish, just two or three extras, so he warns his team not to eat any. Jean-Luc Boulay says you always have to make sure you have extras for four or five plates when you're serving fifty people. Waiters drop plates, cooks drop food, etc.

Hakim swears (very rare on this show, but he does it in English so maybe it doesn't count!) when his Thermomix spills over. He forgot the seal.

Judges' comments on appetizers:

Dominic – Pretty presentation, great finesse, light, crayfish a bit bland, good texture. Normand Laprise says the mackerel didn't need to be smoked, because it overwhelms the delicate flavours of the other ingredients. Jean-Luc Boulay loves it: great flavours and enough acidity to "wake" the fish. The crayfish and the mackerel, when eaten together, complement each other beautifully.

Hakim – Very fresh, clean presentation (looks a little scanty to me), flavours a little confused, mackerel lacking acidity, a bit cottony, less direct and exciting than Dominic's dish; avocado and mackerel are rich and need more acid.

So the appetizer, which in past years was worth 25% of the mark, seems to go to Dominic.

Normand Laprise mentions that Dominic is a good motivator. Jean-Luc Boulay thinks the kids will like working with him.

Hakim takes spilled sauce calmly. He says twelve people will have to go without sauce. None of those twelve is a judge, of course.

Judge's comments on main course:

Dominic – Normand Laprise complains that presentation won out over technique: the lamb is cooked properly but a little tough, because it was cut against the grain. He also thinks that cooking it sous vide made the lamb a bit dry. Too salty, espuma not necessary, polenta very good.

Hakim – Presentation over technique again, with the lamb cut against the grain to look good; Very delicate, fat tasty, zucchini not necessary, olive too bitter, not enough sauce. To me, the lamb looks like a little log split in half, not very appetizing.

The main course is usually worth half the mark. It sounds pretty even to me. Normand Laprise says Hakim has an advantage because he cooked his lamb on the bone, which is rare in restaurants these days.

Dominic tells us he based his dessert on his favourite birthday treat as a child. Normand Laprise says Dominic is doing a good job leading his brigade, involving them and giving them information. Pasquale Vari says so far Dominic's dishes have been lacking a little finish compared to Hakim's. Jean-Luc Boulay says Hakim is losing a bit of his drive now that he's nearing the end.

Judges' comments on dessert:

Dominic – The judges like. Normand Laprise wanted more blueberries (who doesn't?), and he feels tarragon would have been better than lemon balm. Jean-Luc Boulay says it was a very well done dessert.

Hakim – Pasquale Vari likes his meringue more than Dominic's. Fresh taste of basil, rich and unctuous chocolate.

Dessert seems fairly even.

Jean-Luc Boulay comments that we've seen two different styles of chefs. Hakim has worked a lot in Europe and is more authoritarian, which is what he himself was used to when he was starting out in France. Dominic has a more North American style, working in harmony with his team.

Normand Laprise says he was a bit worried when he learned that the appetizers and main courses would be based on the same proteins, but the dishes turned out to be completely different, representing two very different styles and personalities.

Jean-Luc Boulay says the competition was intense and at a very high level. The results were very close.

Winner:

Spoiler

Dominic, who says the announcement felt like an electric shock. I have to say Dominic has the greatest reactions to winning; this time he gave a little hop and yelled out in surprise. He

says he's never had that much money at once before.

I don't think I ever mentioned that the prize is $30,000 in cash and $20,000 in the form of visits (for two people) to three restaurants from Relais & Châteaux (very prestigious Michelin-type thing) in France and three in Quebec.

Spoiler

Hakim wins a $10,000 prize when his name is drawn from a box containing the names of the winners of the previous shows. He's won several times, so he had the most entries anyway. He also wins $10,000 for second place.

The judges didn't offer a final evaluation or a summary of the reasons why a chefling won or lost, as they usually do at the end of the shows. I'm not sure, but I don't think we got one at the end of the previous two finales either. Jean-Luc Boulay really seemed to like

Spoiler

Dominic's food better than Hakim's. If the other two judges thought it was pretty even, his marks might have tipped the balance. Hakim might also have lost marks because of his leadership style.

Normand Laprise certainly didn't seem to like it.

Hakim says the whole experience helped him know himself better. Dominic says he gained confidence and learned that sometimes you just have to go ahead and do it.

So everybody is happy, except me because I can't find photos of the final dishes to post. I guess we'll have to wait for the book! And I still want to go to Émilie's restaurant if and when she opens one.