HK:NY Episode 7

## Intro

While going back to the dorms, an aggravated Natalie told Lauren that she believed the red team wanted to put up someone because of nothing. However Lauren told her that it was okay to be mad, but she needed to speak up if she wanted Gordon to see her in a better light. Natalie eventually understood and promised herself that she can work harder every single day. Cedric overheard their conversation and began to get worried about not only the red team potentially getting stronger, but also the fact that she could be the Achilles heel of the team. Which he doesn’t want either because it could bring down his closest friend, Jacob.

## Team Challenge

The next day, Gordon met the chefs outside with a bus. Seth said he was confused at this and said there could be a large number of places in New York to go to. Gordon told the chefs that the next challenge is a veteran and tells chefs to think carefully, then introducing the chefs to the Budget Challenge. Taylor recognized this as one of his favorites. A series of bodyguards came out and handed each chef $30 each. They were told by Gordon that they would be taken to a local fish market to buy any kind of seafood they could be interested in cooking. However, they need to be fast. Due to not only having stayed under the budget they were given, but to also get their chosen proteins in under 20 minutes. Brittany was surprised by this new twist and said she has never gone shopping under a time limit.

The bus took the chefs to Sea Breeze Fish Market and the timer started as soon as the chefs entered the door. While Jacob knew buying the ingredients was easy, it was harder to keep in their $30 budget. Each chef was seen blazing past each aisle looking for their proteins. Taylor decided to be smart and buy the lobster tail to increase the dish's value. But on the other side, Mike wanted to play safe and collect shrimp because he knew that shrimp would help rack up points. Then, Diego and Lauren found an even playing field when they both chose halibut. Brittany saw this and wondered if Diego was still salty about last night's service. Eventually, time was up, and all the chefs were able to keep from going over their budget.

After returning to Hell's Kitchen, both teams had 45 minutes to cook their pasta dishes. When Mike told Sous chef Aaron that he was going to make a pesto basted shrimp pasta, Chef Aaron was concerned because of how risky it is to make pasta in 45 minutes. However, Mike defended his idea that he would make Gordon more impressed due to him feeling like he had been more invisible than the rest of his team. In the red kitchen, Emily wanted to go more creative and go with a roasted branzino. He knew that creativity gets points on the board if executed well. Jacob wanted to go in a similar direction about roasting his food but went in a more cultural way by making a seared chilean sea bass. In the blue kitchen, Katie knew that she was on Gordon’s watch list and to play safe as there was no room for errors in her case. Both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time.

Before getting on with the challenge, Gordon announced the guest judges for the challenge. He introduced Executive chefs of Union and Roy’s respectively, Bruce Kalman and Roy Yamaguchi. Cedric said he was a major fan of the two chefs, especially Yamaguchi, because they were major inspirations to start his cooking career and techniques. He also told the teams that they will only be tasting three dishes, and asked the blue team to drop three dishes and the red team to drop two. He also told the teams to think very wisely, because it could impact your position in the competition. After a bit of discussion on each team, the blue team decided to put up Mike, Seth, and Katie while the red team decided to put up Emily, Lauren, and Jacob. Natalie said she was a little bummed that she wasn’t able to have her dish sent up but was okay with standing back.

The first round started with Emily up against Mike. Emily presented her braised branzino filet with cabbage coleslaw and lemon juice. The judges enjoyed how smoky the branzino was from how dense that kind of fish can be. However, Chef Bruce mentioned that the coleslaw felt too creamy and didn’t really connect with the taste of the branzino. Mike presented his pesto glazed shrimp carbonara with peas. He was praised for having the pesto freshen up the shrimp and added a new spice to how sweet something like shrimp was, but Chef Roy found the peas to be unnecessary. After discussion, all three chefs agreed that Mike would earn the point over Emily, and the blue team led 1-0.

In the second round, Lauren went up against Seth. Lauren's spice roasted halibut with herbs and tahini salad was cooked beautifully. Gordon was impressed with how creative Lauren could make with halibut. Both chef Roy and chef Bruce found no other problems. Meanwhile Seth's grilled ahi tuna with soy sauce and red chiles was deemed great for having such a good cook on this fish but Chef Roy said the dish was deemed a little basic. Lauren scored that round, and it became a tie. Seth said he was disappointed that he should’ve added some sort of vegetable to spice the dish up a bit.

The final two chefs to get scored were Jacob up against Katie. Gordon called this the battle of two team swaps. Katie was nervous about going up against Jacob because she knew that he was one of the more skilled chefs in the competition. Jacob presented his Chilean sea bass, which received a lot of praise for being able to nail the bass into getting that on point cook. Lastly, Katie presented her slow roasted salmon with a walnut olive vinaigrette. Chef Bruce gave nice praise to Katie for the creativity of the vinaigrette, while Chef Roy complimented her for the cook on the salmon. Gordon agreed with both statements saying that was a major step up in her performance. When Gordon asked the judges for who they’d give a point to, they were split. Chef Roy voted for Jacob while Chef Bruce voted for Katie, leaving Gordon with the deciding choice. After long consideration, Gordon gave the final point to Jacob, making the red team win 2-1.

 Emily
 Lauren
 Jacob
 Results

## Reward & Punishment

The red team were rewarded with a trip to the rooftop of the Four Seasons Hotel with a surprise waiting for them. While Taylor was happy that they were finally able to get a win in, Jacob left the group to the dorms to recollect himself. He said he was extremely proud of being the reason his team won the challenge. During the reward, the red team relaxed on the poolside. Scott felt it was great to get outside and see Hollywood after being cooped up in the restaurant. When the red team got into the lobby for the surprise, they saw Vitamix blenders waiting for them. Emily was extremely happy for being able to get something as high class as a Vitamix.

Gordon told the blue team that they would be in one of the most notoriously disgusting punishments, then revealing that it was spring cleaning day. This already made chefs like Diego and Brittany feel uncomfortable. Gordon told the blue team that they had to first clean the kitchens then the dorms. Once the punishment started, it was already a pain. Cedric said he had heard about this punishment in the past season and dreamed to never participate, then said the HK gods weren’t feeling generous with him. Everyone seemed to be having a hard time getting through the dorm lavatories except Mike, who said he would do chores like that back where he lives so it was just another Tuesday for him.

Later that night, both teams were relaxing at the dorms, waiting for Gordon to call them down to start prepping for service. Diego asked Katie about how she felt about the blue team so far, which she replied with her being surprisingly happy that her team wouldn’t be this big, cocky, arrogant cloud that would be disliked all season.

## Cook For Your Life Challenge

At 6:30 PM, Gordon called the dorms and asked Taylor to bring everybody downstairs. When both teams came downstairs, they saw the dining room was empty except for Gordon standing in front of one lone table. Brittany called this situation really confusing and nerve-racking. Gordon confirmed that there was not going to be a dinner service that night. Gordon also said he wanted to see more talent used with seafood because he believed that fish was the hardest protein to nail for this season's chefs. He announced that the Cook For Your Life challenge will take place. Cedric said he was a bit scared even though he knew he’d be safe no matter what, but he knew that there might be a chance where this was his downfall. Gordon said that the chefs that didn’t present their dish will be in danger of taking off their jacket, meaning Brittany, Cedric, Diego, Natalie, and Taylor would be participating in the challenge. Natalie was disappointed in herself because her dish that she made earlier not getting put up now puts her in the running of being eliminated. Brittany knew that this was going to be the point where Gordon would up the stakes. Before announcing the rules of the challenge, Gordon sent the safe players, Emily, Jacob, Katie, Lauren, Mike, and Seth, up to the dorms.

After the six safe chefs left the dining room and up to the dorms, Gordon told the in danger chefs that they would need to pay extreme attention to their cooking. He said that they would need to make a dish featuring Salmon as the main component of your dish. But there was a twist, they all had to filet their own salmon. Diego was surprised by this sudden piece of news because he isn’t that used to working with fileting salmon a lot.

Gordon gave the five chefs 50 minutes to filet and cook their salmon dishes. As the challenge began, the chefs immediately ran to their respective stations and began fileting their salmon. Everyone seemed to have different levels when it came to fileting a salmon. Taylor and Brittany seemed to be comfortable, Cedric was very cautious about not messing up, Natalie was a bit shaky, and Diego had a some time to carefully fileting. While everyone knew that they had full control over what they wanted to cook with the salmon, Diego knew that he had to lock in some certain flavors, so he added cumin to his salmon before putting it in the oven. Taylor had an idea for a sundried tomato and orzo platter to add with his fried salmon, he said that being able to keep his back off the block but to prove to his team and his family that he is not the weak member of the red kitchen. Natalie wanted to go more to her roots and make a Tuscan butter salmon with corn and roasted artichoke, while saying that going bold would impress Gordon and get her a spot in the top ten. Brittany decided to go for a more drastic dish with a grilled salmon bowl and a cayenne Dijon mustard sauce, and that she felt it was the first time she was cooking with so much weight on her back. When Sous chef Daphne asked her on how she was doing, she said that Gordon knows how good of a chef she is because she sent one weak and one strong member to swap and she was the strong member, so she felt confident.  Lastly, Cedric knew that he put his heart, back and soul into the dish because he adores cooking thanks to parents and grandparents and he wants to make them proud. He decided to make an oven roasted stuffed salmon because he knew the flavors very well and he shouldn’t metaphorically collapse on this dish. Eventually, the chefs got their dishes cooked and plated on time.

## Elimination

Brittany was the first person to have her dish judged, and presented her spicy salmon bowl with white rice, avocado, cucumbers, and a cayenne infused Dijon mustard sauce. It was praised for a beautiful presentation and tasting good, but Gordon was curious if it was better than the other five dishes. Taylor was up next, who was praying that he would be safe that night. He presented his sun dried tomato salmon platter with orzo rice, which

Gordon praised for creativity and good taste. However the orzo was a tad mushy and overcooked. After some consideration, Brittany’s dish was deemed the better of the two and was sent to the dorms. She felt the most exhausted she’s ever been in her cooking career so far. When returned to the dorms, the remaining chefs were happy to see Brittany return.

Cedric was the third chef up, and while she knew that Taylor put up a good fight, he was confident enough to bring a knockout. Cedric's oven roasted stuffed salmon with feta cheese and spinach was praised for its presentation and having a wonderful taste along with a great cook. Gordon deemed Cedric's dish better than Taylor's, and was safe. Gordon called that dish the best dish he’s served all competition, which excited Cedric. When returned to the dorms, chefs like Katie, Mike, and Jacob were relieved to see Cedric still in the game.

Diego was the fourth person up with his cumin rubbed salmon with home potatoes and collard greens. Diego wanted to keep himself in the game as much as he can because he’ll never forgive himself if he fails this. His salmon was deemed delicious and praised him for the careful filet. However, Gordon asked if he added the cumin before cooking the salmon, which Diego confirmed. Because of that, Taylor was the third chef deemed safe. As he ran back to the dorms, he was shaking in happiness and called himself a firework in the kitchen. When returned, the safe chefs were both happy and surprised to see Taylor return that early.

Natalie was the final person to present her dish, he knew it was right now or never again to have this opportunity to prove to Gordon that she is a great chef. She presented her Tuscan butter cooked salmon with artichoke and corn. Gordon was confused about why Natalie cooked the salmon skin side up and told her that was risky to do in a Cook For Your Life challenge. Natalie said she wanted to prove that she can take and nail some risks. The dish was praised for the even sear by nailing the cook but was criticized for having the artichoke on the plate and deemed it unnecessary. Gordon sent Natalie back in line and told both remaining chefs that they worked very hard to get to this point in the competition. Natalie said that she wanted to stay so badly that she kept thinking about the people at her home counting on her. Diego said he pushed himself his whole life up to this moment and told himself that staying in the competition in the end would be golden for him. In the end, Gordon deemed Natalie's dish the better of the two, and Diego was eliminated. Natalie was sent back up to the dorms. Natalie ran to the dorms with tears in her eyes, saying that she knew that she could cook and all she needed to do was believe in herself.

Back downstairs, Gordon told Diego that while he came into the competition with flair and style, but the flames were getting too high and he burned out. This convinced Gordon that she was not ready to become his head chef, but told him to keep his head up. Gordon asked for Diego’s jacket.

During her exit interview, Diego admitted that he was letting the heat of the kitchen get to him and that he should’ve stuck with his knowledge and comfort instead of going big. But he said that he was proud that he had an opportunity to show his talent to the world and he would never forget the things he learned while in that kitchen.

***Gordon’s Comment: “When you cook with your life on the line, every detail needs attention. Unfortunately for Diego, he didn’t get the memo.”***