Top Chef Recap: Seven Fishes

"For what I'd say is the fourth time this competition, Sieger delivered a somewhat lackluster, but properly cooked dish, and ended up squeaking through to next week because another person failed more definitively. This time around, that person was one of our favorites and someone who I thought was getting a clear finalist edit. Sieger, my guy, how much longer are you going to keep getting away with this?"

"We're finally at the mise-en-place race! Based on the promo, I thought the chefs would be boating around to get fish to use in the race (breaking down a protein is usually part of this), but I was getting ahead of the reality of the episode. Instead, the chefs do the mise-en-place race on the docks at Legendary Green Pond Landing in Anderson, South Carolina. Kristen, Tom, and Gail are waiting for them at Lake Hartwell, and the judges explain the rules."

"Two randomly selected teams will compete in five rounds, and the first team to win three rounds will get the opportunity to cook a dish, using the mise-en-place ingredients, for $10,000. The other team has to sit on the sidelines. Laurence, as the winner of last week's episode, doesn't have to compete on either team and instead gets an immediate entry into the Quickfire cook. Must be nice!"

"The chefs pull knives and organize into teams: Jonathan, Sherry, and Anthony are one team, and Sieger, Rhoda, and Duyen are the other. And there's another element of the race this year: Teams can send the same chef in for multiple rounds, so if one member of the team is strongest at a couple of things, the team can rely on them to do more"

Sieger continues to progress despite delivering lackluster but properly cooked dishes, benefiting from others failing more decisively. Rhoda also advances after producing a good dish, even as “soft meringue” and an elimination elsewhere raise questions about outcomes. The competition reaches a mise-en-place race at Legendary Green Pond Landing in Anderson, South Carolina. Two randomly selected teams compete in five rounds, and the first team to win three rounds earns the chance to cook a dish using provided mise-en-place ingredients for $10,000. The losing team sits out. Laurence, as last week’s winner, skips the race and goes directly to a Quickfire cook. Teams are formed with specific chef groupings, and chefs can be reused across multiple rounds based on strengths.

Read at Vulture