Next Level Chef recap: Italian food shouldn’t be missing ingredients

As the contestants face their second challenge, this Next Level Chef recap shows that simple mistakes cannot be made in this FOX culinary competition. The concept of thoughtful intention with that ingredient grab might be the best advice the mentor chefs could give. Was another forgotten ingredient one mistake too many?

Going into this episode, Team Trailblazers, ie Team Richard Blais, was down one chef. Given that the competition is in the early stages, being down a team member is not ideal. Then again, rising to the occasion after the elimination could set a tone for the remaining team members.

Unlike the first challenge, this Next Level Chef recap has the teams tackling a cuisine versus an ingredient. While the theme was Italian food, it was curious that the contestants could go in a variety of directions. This challenge was far more than just a bowl of pasta.

As the teams headed to their respective kitchens, Gordon Ramsay – middle, Nyesha Arrington – bottom, and Richard Blais – top, the approach for each team seemed to be quite different. Although much has been said about the kitchen essentials on each floor, the thoughtful cook can make anything work.

While the levels are assigned randomly, it was good to see that each team had to tackle a different kitchen. If there wasn’t variation viewers might question the randomness. It will be interesting to see how the kitchens impact the competition in the later rounds.

Similar to the first challenge, the ingredients played havoc with the contestants. How a lobster made it to the bottom kitchen is questionable. Then again, maybe no one wanted to risk cooking with a live lobster. It might be a valuable ingredient but it is a tricky protein to cook. That risk/reward ratio might have been a factor.

The bigger issue to tackle in this Next Level Chef recap is the forgotten ingredients, again. Several contestants forgot to grab integral ingredients that were needed for the dish that they wanted to make. While the 30 second grab can be chaotic, the contestants need to be organized, thoughtful and even concise. Even with that mad dash, a composed dish shouldn’t be out of reach.

Although the Italian food theme is quite broad, the contestants could be able to think of an idea, direction or concept before running for the platform. Anyone expecting to just put some pasta on a plate shouldn’t have signed up for this competition.

Still, the competition is early and the contestants are still learning to adapt. Hopefully after the next challenge, the ingredient grab becomes more streamlined and the forgotten ingredients are thing of the past.

Since it appears that a mid-challenge ingredient twist is part of every episode, the Italian food challenge had mushrooms as a twist. Although the twist was part of the judging, it would have been nice to see some creative uses of the various mushrooms.

A few of the comments showcased the uses of the mushrooms, but it was mostly overlooked. As the competition field narrows, the hope is that more attention will be given to the twist and its impact. Having 14 contestants in the kitchen, it is impossible to give everyone and every dish its spotlight.

Even though it is early, a divide between top and bottom contestants is starting to show. While many dishes seem to fall in the middle a few contestants seem to be consistently in top consideration. Luckily, the top dishes are spread throughout all three teams.

https://twitter.com/NextLevelFOX/status/1481452185254772738

Unlike the first challenge, the judges picked just one top dish. Jonathan on Team Blais won the Italian food challenge and kept the four strong to cook another day. Even though Jonathan seemed a little scattered during his cook, his flavors won over the judges. Based on this challenge and the previous one, Jonathan is emerging as a front runner.

Unfortunately, that meant that Gordon Ramsay and Nyesha Arrington had to put two contestants up for elimination. For Team Gordon, the option seemed obvious. Roice floundered in this and the previous challenge.

The nominee for Team Arrington was Zach. Serving the judges raw dough it never acceptable. It doesn’t matter if the ovens in the basement can be tricky. The contestants need to find a solution or adapt their dish.

For the elimination challenge, Roice and Zach had to great a globally inspired noodle dish. The only caveat was that the flavors could not represent Italian food. Given the wide array of flavors, it is curious that both contestants picked Asian noodle dishes.

https://twitter.com/NextLevelFOX/status/1481457526604500995

Looking at both dishes, neither one was perfect. While their teammates tried to offer encouragement and support, the help was almost a hinderance. For Roice, all the extra yelling caused him to make mistakes. Even though he recovered, the dish seemed muddled.

Roice decided to make a version of Pad Thai. Although he had never made this dish before, his dish was acceptable. The shrimp were ok but the seasoning might have needed a bit more flavor.

Zach had layers of flavor in his noodle dish. His broth seemed to both help and hinder the dish. While the noodles were well-dressed, there might have been a touch too much broth. Also, his dish would have benefited from a better ratio of noodles to pork.

When the judges voted, each one picked their own team member as the preferred dish. That scenario left Richard Blais to pick a winner.

Given that Blais saw the whole cook, there might have been a few other influences in his decision. While the flavor and better dish will prevail, the non-blind judging cannot be completely unbiased. Maybe the winning team might need to weigh in with their opinion to help break a tie.

In the end, Blais picked Zach as the better dish. Roice was sent home. Although Roice understands the science of cooking, he needs a little more experience in a pressure situation to allow his skills to shine.

What did you think of this Next Level Chef recap? Are nerves still impacting the competition?