Hell’s Kitchen S18E2 recap: A Fond Farewell

In this Hell’s Kitchen S18E2 recap, an individual challenge leads to a never-before-seen award. Then the teams must survive opening night. Will a veteran or rookie be the first to go home?

In Hell’s Kitchen S18E2, we pick up where we left off last time. All the cooks have been called to the dining room to find Gordon and a group of bagpipe players. Gordon solemnly announces, “today is about a passing, right here in Hell’s Kitchen. One of our near and dear. We are saying farewell to…Jocky.” Everyone looks suitably shocked until Gordon corrects them. He wasn’t bidding Jocky farewell but calling him.

Jocky enters carrying a cloche and wearing a kilt as the bag pipers play Amazing Grace. Ramsay pretends to check under Jocky’s kilt, and then announces that the iconic dish, lobster risotto, will be off the HK menu this season.

Certain dishes have been on the Hell’s Kitchen menu for all time- beef wellington, scallops, risotto. Risotto has been the source of much stress and yelling on the show. Just to prove the point, we get a montage of Ramsay, occasionally praising, but typically yelling about risotto. It is burned, undercooked, under-seasoned, soupy, late, oily, or just missing.

But fear not. Hell’s Kitchen will still serve risotto. The chefs will each create their own and the winning dish will be the new risotto for the season. On top of that honor, the winner will receive a unique bonus- a golden ticket, a get out of jail free pass. The winner will get a punishment pass which means that, if they are on the losing team, they can escape the punishment and instead go with the winning team on their reward.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Contestant in the all-new ÒA Fond FarewellÓ episode of HELLÕS KITCHEN airing Friday, Oct. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: Patrick Wymore/FOX.

Given how grueling punishments can be, this is a real treat. Think of escaping punishments like sorting garbage, accepting mountains of heavy deliveries, cleaning up after live animals, not to mention the gross lunches they are often subjected to. The pass can only be used once. I wonder if they will get to hear the punishment first, or if they will have to spend the pass blindly?

The cooks have forty-five minutes to craft their risotto entry. Veteran Bret crows that he makes this risotto multiple times per week and can’t lose. Meanwhile, rookie Chris is nervously cooking pork belly much more quickly than he has ever attempted before.

Gordon does not plan to taste sixteen risottos so he leaves his sous chefs, Christina (rookie team) and Jocky (veteran team) to taste their team’s offerings and pick their top four. As they taste, I am surprised how many of the rookie dishes are not only small servings, but they sit neatly in the center of the plate. I’m used to seeing Hell’s Kitchen risotto spread out to fill the dish, being more brothy.

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For the most part, the tasting is standard until we get to veteran Jen. She is quite the character. She often seems to have an almost European accent, which is weird since she is from Chicago. She also has a quirky personality. She asks Jocky if she can taste her dish with him. He allows it, though it seems odd. He asks if she tasted it before presenting and she says she did. Perhaps she didn’t really have time to taste, or maybe she was just hungry.

Ramsay returns to taste the top dishes from each team. Christina sends up rookie Chris’ pan-seared pork belly risotto. Jocky counters with T’s scallop, leak, and pancetta risotto with green tomato relish. Gordon finds the relish creative and eliminates Chris’ dish. Christina then sends up Gizzy’s vegetarian risotto, which is better than T’s. Jocky tries Roe’s carrot, turmeric, and ginger risotto but Gizzy remains on top. Christina sends up Mia’s sweet pea and basil risotto with crispy pancetta. Unlike most of the risottos presented, hers is an appealing bright green. Mia unseats her teammate, Gizzy.

Jocky sends up Ariel’s speck, pecorino and wild mushroom risotto but she is sent back, unable to best Mia. Christina presents Scott’s blistered tomato, scallop, parmesan, mascarpone, and bacon risotto but Mia still has the best dish. Jocky’s last chance is Bret. Bret presents a grilled shrimp and charred asparagus tip risotto with a seafood and tomato broth which gives it a nice red shade.

Bret is freaking out, waiting for the final decision. He is nearly in tears, praying for a win. Gordon grants him the win and he loses it. In the confessional, he openly cries about his parents, both of which he lost recently. Once he has gotten past his tears, he spends a lot of time chest thumping in the dorms, much to the annoyance of the rookie chefs.

The cooks are all called back to the kitchen, and here we begin to see the disadvantages of each team. The veterans know to hurry up and to arrive as a team. The rookies take their time and earn the wrath of the sous chefs. The veterans know the expectations in Hell’s Kitchen and if they can meet them, that will serve them well.

The sous chefs run through the extensive menu, demonstrating the expected techniques for each dish. They cover pan-seared scallops, beet cured salmon salad, sweet potato flatbread, mixed endive salad, grilled octopus, carbonara, Bret’s tomato risotto, and that is just for appetizers. Entrees include beef wellington, lobster wellington, pan roasted NY strip steak, crispy skinned salmon, halibut, rack of lamb, bone in chicken breast, and bone in double pork chop. The special for opening night is a tableside appetizer of shrimp and pasta. Scotley and Roe will serve tableside.

Now the disadvantage of the veteran team surfaces- a know-it-all attitude. Trevor is clearly not paying attention to the demo. He assumes he knows how to complete the menu. Christina points out to her team, “Your advantage is they all have egos and all thought the should have won and there’s a reason they didn’t.” Trevor’s lack of attention immediately catches up to him as he forgets to egg wash the beef wellingtons before scoring them and promptly gets yelled at for his error.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Host / chef Gordon Ramsay (C) with contestants in the “A Fond Farewell” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Oct. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: Patrick Wymore/FOX.

At last it is time for Hell’s Kitchen opening night. I always figured that, if I got invited to opening night of HK, I would pack crackers in my purse and plan to grab tacos afterwards. Normally few people get served anything but alcohol that first night of HK.

For the most part, the veteran team does well. They understand Ramsay’s brigade system and know his standards. The start off a little rocky when T presents her first risotto and it is too cheesy, without a strong tomato flavor. The only other error we see for the veterans is when Bret slices the rack of lamb, something Gordon is supposed to do right before service. All in all, it looks like they remember their previous HK training well.

The rookies, on the other hand, struggle with Ramsay’s system. Scott, the only rookie with his own restaurant, can’t seem to remember how many shrimp he needs to cook. Two risottos are called but he cooks shrimp for one. Gordon tells him, “I need six shrimp. You sent me three,” to which Scott responds, “what do you need chef?” Scott interjects that he is totally lost and needs Gordon to slow down.

Still unaware that he needs to send three more shrimp, he sends up six shrimp. He then promptly begins cooking even more shrimp. When questioned, he tells Gordon these are shrimp for the tableside order. Even as he says it, I cringe for him. I’m assuming the pressure has given him test anxiety and sent his common sense out the window.

Gordon takes Scott by the hand like a child and tells him, “let me show you what tableside means.” He brings him out to Scotley, much to the excitement of the lucky diners who get an up close and personal look at Gordon dressing someone down. Gordon then leaves Scott in the dining room.

HELL’S KITCHEN: Host / chef Gordon Ramsay (C) in the “A Fond Farewell” episode of HELL’S KITCHEN airing Friday, Oct. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. © 2018 FOX Broadcasting. CR: Patrick Wymore/FOX.

The trouble is not over yet for the rookies, as Jose sends out a raw halibut. Even worse is the meat station. Mia and Chris are on meat, and Mia has somehow decided that it is Chris’ job to track all the orders. Chris gets confused on what has been called, so the meat station grinds to a halt. Gordon goes over to discover something I have never seen in Hell’s Kitchen.

Chris has been writing down all the orders. Gordon grabs all his paper and crumples it and then snatches the pencil from behind his ear and snaps it in half. No more writing down for Chris. Gordon calls the next order- two halibut, one lamb, one beef, two pork. He immediately asks Chris to recite it and Chris gets it all right except for the halibut. I’m not sure if this is because he forgot, or because halibut does not come out of his station.

When reminded of the halibut, he gets more flustered and calls out two scallops, one halibut, one lobster. I have no idea where that came from. I’m not even sure they are doing any lobster on the menu. Gordon insists that the whole team recite the order, and we get a follow-the-bouncing-ball order on screen. He makes them recite it again and again. Once they’ve said it to his satisfaction, he lets them cook, only to have the lamb delivered raw.

Gordon has had enough and sends the team to the dorm. Meanwhile, blue completes their service.

The rookies go through their first nomination discussions. Scott immediately owns up to letting the team down with his confusion on shrimp. It’s good to own up to your mistakes, but it also makes him look less determined to stay. Everyone else plays the typical finger-pointing game in an effort to avoid nomination.

In the end, the team nominates Scott and Chris. Both showed confusion in tracking orders. Gordon calls up Jose as well. Each chef defends himself, though Scott’s defense seemed less passionate than I’m sure he felt. Chris reveals that he had a recent accident in which he “broke ninety percent of his face” and suffered a concussion. He struggles to remember things now, but he remains passionate about cooking.

Chris and Jose are sent to join their team, and Scott is out. Gordon tells Scott that he eliminated him for cooking the tableside dish in the kitchen, but I think it has more to do with how Scott responded to possible elimination.  Some people are not overly demonstrative, and Scott did not passionately defend himself. I think that had a lot to do with his elimination as Gordon tends to reward cooks who will cry and scream their desire on the chopping block.

Gordon tells us, “Scott remembers working with some of the biggest named chefs in the world but whether they would remember him is another matter entirely. I know I won’t remember him by tomorrow.”

Gordon tantrums: we got our first smashed fish (Jose’s raw halibut) and he also snapped Chris’ pencil in half.

Best Gordon insult: “Tableside means you stand next to the *bleeping* table.”