Last night's line up on Food Network's All Stars Tournament Round 3 pitted Beau MacMillan against Nate Appleman, Anita Lo, and Jacques Torres. You all know Beau from elements at The Sanctuary, as Iron Chef winner besting Bobby Flay at his own American cuisine game, and Season 1 of Worst Cook's in America. How did Beau fare on Chopped?
Beau's competition: Nate Appleman (R&D, Chipotle) made his mark as a nose to tail chef heavy into butchering and winner of Rising Star Chef 2009-James Beard Foundation. Anita Lo, (Annisa), Asian fusion expert and winner of Iron Chef America battle of mushrooms against Mario Batali. Jacques Torres (Jacques Torres Chocolate), aka Mr. Chocolate, and youngest chef to receive French Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Pastry Chef of France).
what they cooked and Beau chopped after the jump
Round 1, Appetizer, Basket Ingredients: fresh pasta sheets + dried papaya + blue foot mushrooms + chorizo.
Beau's dish: Rendering the fat from the chorizo, Beau created a pappardelle pasta with chorizo and smoked paprika cream sauce. Judges adored the dish; the only criticism was the serving size, considered "huge" for an appetizer.
Chopped: Jacques Torres for serving burnt chorizo and pulling his own ingredient, cocoa nibs, out of his pocket. The man travels with pockets full of chocolate!
Really? Anita Lo ran out of time and didn't complete plating her dish, a sure way to get chopped on other episodes, but the judges let her slide.
Round 2, Entrée, Basket Ingredients: cobia + salmon jerky + Chinese spinach + animal crackers.
Beau's dish: Inspired by the Chinese spinach, Beau went for the Asian condiments, an interesting choice when competing against Anita Lo, Asian fusion queen.
Oh-oh moment: Concern from Ted and the judges as Beau struggled to combine salmon jerky and animal crackers in the food processor. Beau's "no guts no glory" approach powered him through to complete his Roasted cobia with soy vinaigrette and cucumber citrus salad garnish.
Chopped: Beau Mac went down with his dish. The judges criticized Nate and Anita's dishes as well as Beau's, but found Beau's use of soy sauce overpowered and "eclipsed" the basket ingredients-in spite of loving his "smart, fresh approach" and citrus salad garnish.
Beau's reaction: "My dish rocked! It was executed well, but apparently wasn't what the judges wanted."
Round 3, Dessert-Who cares? The master pastry chef and chocolatier Jacques Torres gone in Round 1. Beau's chopped. Enough said.
The Chopped challenge is an opportunity for masters of the cooking game to go up against themselves. No sous chef or line cooks to back them up, the clock ticks and the sweat drips.
Sorry to see Beau go, it would have been fun to watch him go against nemesis Anne Burrell in the final round. Which raises the question, we've been asking since Beau left Worst Cook's in America- where in the Food Network World will Beau pop up next?
