Top Chef

Previously on Top Chef...

- The winner of the Last Chance Kitchen is...

- I am not happy to see Bev.

She's off in her own Bev-land.

- Watch out for my basket. - Sorry.

Were you guys surprised when I came back?

No.

And we were all excited

'cause we thought we were the final four.

- If I get eliminated because Beverly takes my spot,

I am gonna be so pissed off.

I paired it with a smoked oyster crema.

I'm just not a big fan

of this particular oyster sauce at all.

- Ed, please pack your knives and go.

To the final four.

- Four chefs remain, all hoping to win

a feature in Food & Wine magazine,

a showcase at the annual Food & Wine classic in Aspen,

$125,000...

Furnished by Healthy Choice

to bring their culinary dreams to life,

and the title of Top Chef.

== sync by elderman ==

- It feels great to be in Vancouver.

Yet, there's still so much more to do.

The biggest difference

between the Sarah that walked into San Antonio

and the Sarah now

is I've had time to learn a lot about myself.

My goal is to stay calm and be a really nice person.

- It's so good to see you. - Hi.

- Paul. - Hey, what's up?

- Good to see you. - Good to see you.

- Come here. - How's it going?

- Paul, Sarah and I have a special bond.

We've been through this since day one together.

How are you?

- I think with Beverly, personalities clash.

So it's a little weird seeing her.

- You look warm. - Yeah.

Let's get loaded up.

Toyota time.

- I feel fortunate and blessed

to even have this opportunity.

My great-grandfather on my father's side

fled from China to the Philippines

to start a new life for his family,

and I've always felt like I had that responsibility,

being that I'm his eldest grandson.

So that is what I'm pursuing here,

trying to win Top Chef.

There's a letter.

- Oh, no! - Oh, no.

- "Chefs, welcome to British Columbia, Canada.

"Head up to Whistler and meet us at the top of the mountain.

Bundle up. Padma."

No!

- Oh, my God. - Yes!

It was so stressful.

Now, looking back on it, I get upset with myself

about how upset I got in certain situations.

Yeah.

- It feels surreal to be back,

especially after the mentor challenge,

when I almost got eliminated.

So, to win the whole thing would mean the world to me.

It was totally awesome.

It was--it was pretty intense-- - Look at this tree.

- Sarah and Lindsay have never respected me as a chef.

Coming from the Last Chance Kitchen,

I really do have a lot to prove,

but having that second chance taught me

I have everything it takes to be Top Chef.

- We're here. All right.

- Wow. It's, like, really beautiful.

- I'm glad you like the, um, orange pants.

Wow.

Whoa, this thing's fast.

- I'm going back to my... - Wow.

- I'm not sure what's gonna happen

on top of this mountain today.

I'm just picturing, like, this skiing relay race

where we're going down the slope,

picking up ingredients to make a final dish

at the foot of the mountain.

- You can get a little motion sickness when you sit down.

Yeah.

- I'm like, "Holy."

There's a lot of wind, and there's a lot of snow.

Everything is just the total opposite of Texas.

I'm glad not to be in 115-degree weather.

But I'm also not that stoked to be in 5-degree weather.

Oh, jeez.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

- The first challenge back has a lot to do with the psychology.

I'm thinking if I could just blow them away

the first challenge, that would be a huge advantage.

Hello, chefs.

And welcome to British Columbia.

Hello.

- Whistler was a prominent venue for the 2010 Winter Games.

- So it's only fitting that we're gonna start

with our very own culinary game.

Only three of you will move on

to the final rounds of the competition.

There are three events.

The winner of each event will win $10,000.

For the first event, you'll each cook a dish

on a moving gondola.

A moving gondola.

I get motion sickness,

so I'm like, "Oh, , what am I gonna do?"

The peak-to-peak gondola

is the fastest unsupported span in the world.

Up here at 7,000 feet above sea level,

the altitude alone can present a challenge.

- When your gondola reaches Blackcomb mountain peak,

you'll have to jump out, get a new ingredient,

and use that new ingredient in your dish.

You'll be serving the judges

at steeps restaurant on Whistler Mountain.

Let the games begin.

I hop into a moving gondola.

I'm out of my element, and I'm nervous.

I definitely feel like I gotta get

out of my head and just focus on the challenge.

I'm a little nauseous.

Even though I'm nervous,

I've gone too far not to push myself through this.

I'm gonna go with lamb for today.

It's crazy out here.

I gotta get ready to roll out, pick some stuff up.

- I see more ingredients than I thought.

So it's kind of making my decision

of what I'm gonna make more difficult.

Holy.

I grabbed salmon, cut off the belly...

, there's scales on that. I'm not using that.

Holy , it's cold.

I can't open anything.

I am freaking out.

I'm not really finding the one direction I want to go.

- Gosh, what do we have here?

I have to make a decision of what I'm gonna cook.

We have two induction burners and two saucepans, the chinois,

but real basic.

I think I'm gonna do a tartare, just to be safe.

Oh, God, it's upside down.

It's really cold in the gondola,

and I'm thinking a cold dish is gonna be the best way to go.

So I'm thinking something raw would be good.

Sour cream would be a nice sauce.

Okay, still have some time.

Whoo, balance.

I got a couple of ideas.

Cooking at high altitudes

is very different than cooking at sea level.

Water boils faster.

Something that you do all the time

and you think always works

quite easily could be a disaster.

This thing moving is not easy.

All the burners are tipped at different angles

and keep rocking back and forth.

So it's very difficult for me to cook.

All right, I'm a little nervous.

- Whoa. - Oh,.

Once we hit Blackcomb,

I have to run out of the gondola,

pick out an ingredient and use it in my dish.

I pick the wasabi paste.

A little bit of a nice burning heat

would go with the lamb.

My 's not cooking right now,

and I'm starting to think

that maybe this isn't the best choice for me.

I didn't get the caramelization I want on the lamb.

So I take my lamb loin off the lamb rack,

and I slice that in half to get smaller pieces

so I can make sure it cooks.

There goes the bones.

Whoa.

It is, like, very nauseous in here.

You really have to open each container

to find out what ingredient it is.

So I go through every container.

Oh, my God, what am I gonna use?

I don't wanna use wasabi. I don't wanna use coffee.

So I end up choosing the prune juice.

I think that maybe I can deglaze the chorizo

with the prune juice

to give kind of a sweetness to the dish.

Everything freezes.

Oh, well.

And I'm thinking, "Oh, my God."

Wow, it's really crazy out here.

- I open the jar with the horseradish in it,

and I think, "Hmm, this could really

actually enhance my dish."