Top Chef recap

So does anyone else think that when the chefs are standing in front of Judges' Table, everyone has a look on their face like they've been called to the Principal's office?

That thought crossed my mind during this episode, which was my favorite so far this season.

I'm a huge Dan Barber fan - this week's guest judge - and his philosophy of using fresh, local, seasonal ingredients. Farm-to-fork eating isn't new, but Barber takes it to a whole new level.

The twist at Quickfire Challenge was actually the opposite of the later theme of using fresh and local ingredients - first, contestants had to take canned/processed foods and make them tasty.

Now, this takes some true creativity.

I was a little put off with Radhika's "housewives" comment, something about "housewives" - and geez, isn't that a dated word?- just open a can and call it dinner. Kid, you just offended every stay-at-home mom out there, but I guess we'll just chalk it up to indiscretion of youth.

Tattoo Girl didn't even put any effort into this challenge with her bruschetta- oh, excuse me, Miss Elitist I'm Not Using Anything But Farm Fresh Ingredients. She bores me. I wish she would just take her scallops and go home.

But it turned out to be the Battle of the Baldies - with a peeved Hosea versus Stefan, the Biggest Ego in the European Union.

Hosea also has started to bug me - for no real reason other than he's seems like a 6-foot-something whiny little girl - and I'm glad he lost. What a big dummy for handing over his Spam. Dude, this is a competition! Does Michael Phelps slow down in the pool to help out an opponent? Nope. And that's why he has more gold medals than anyone else. Hosea, go cry on Leah's shoulder. (Just don't tell your girlfriend!) Lesson learned: Sharing the Spam will come back to bite you.

Stefan's smug mug when he won gave me a much needed laugh. I dunno, I have a soft spot for cocky chefs.......and this guy has proven he can cook.

Elimination Challenge should have been a chef's dream. Go to a farm run by a thoughtful, critically-acclaimed chef, get the best ingredients possible and make a meal. (So why did so many contestants keep crying the blues that they couldn't shop at Whole Foods? What's UP with that?)

Every good chef will tell you, when you have great ingredients all you really need to do is let the flavors shine and, basically, stay out of the way. Add only what is needed to enhance, not mask, the taste.

Chef Tom and Dan Barber made many salient points - basically that you honor and respect the pig, chicken, lamb that you will be eating. There's a wonderful London chef named Fergus Henderson who feels the same way. He wrote a book called The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating that basically calls for using every part of the animal or vegetable that has been sacrificed to sate your appetite.

I had the privilege of writing about Henderson for a magazine piece and eating at his fantastic St. John restaurant - we sat near Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, but that's another story - and it was amazing.

He made tongues and kidneys taste wonderful and I had one of the best pork dishes of my life there.

But I regress, so back to the episode: Tom and Dan are ticked that Leah, Hosea and Adriane take fantastic baby lamb and muck it up with bad butchering skills, too many spices and inconsistent meat rolling and tying. It's all about respect and they certainly didn't show it. And there's no sympathy for Blonde Guy's lackluster pork - (What would Fergus Henderson say?) - and Fabio's pesto-laden pork ravioli. Fabio, how could you?

I'm still not feeling the love for new judge Toby Young, but a part of me wanted to reach inside the TV and give him a hug when he waxed poetic about pork, and Tom got an air smooch when he talked about pork skin and bone-in meat. (Why the lovey-doveys? I just wrote a story about the beauty of a picnic pork shoulder. What timing!)

Tattoo Girl, Beaker, and Stefan make chicken taste like chicken and get the win.

Adriane gets throw under the bus by crybaby couple Hosea and Leah, the judges knife her for pitful butchering skills and it's back to Jersey for Cougar Lady.

Still doesn't seem right to me. Where's the justice this episode?