Last night, Howie’s worst fear came true: his cooking skills were publicly scorned. And rightly so. You could tell by the shot of his phyllo “cigars” frying that the oil wasn’t hot enough and that the resultant cigars would be greasy. The duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms) on his tartlets did indeed, per Hung, look like dog diarrhea.
Howie knew it was looking bad for him at the judges’ table, and so with his new-found team spirit, he offered to resign so that Brian could stay. No dice, said Padma. The judges saw right through Howie’s craven gesture. They wanted him off, and they wanted to fire him.
With his distinctive blend of arrogance and thick-headedness, Howie declared during his exit interview, “I stand by my decision,” even though his decision had been pointedly ignored and the one he was standing by had been made by the judges.
In fact Howie’s dismal performance did save Brian, who failed at both of the tasks he essayed: preparing his ahi poke (which Tom Colicchio unmasked as yet another tuna tartare) and leadership of the catering team. Brian’s supervisory missteps were numerous and grave. He presided over a selection of hors d’oeuvres that was formless and repetitive. The only thing he could take credit for was that the groceries came in 25 cents under budget.
For the quick-fire challenge, Hung made an interpretive breakfast moonscape of eggs, leeks, potatoes, cereal, chocolate-drink mix and whipped cream. I thought he was just having fun but he seemed to actually think it was edible. “I didn’t expect to win,” he said after not winning, “because I had a judge that was so closed-minded.”
Chastened, for the elimination challenge he put out two comically prosaic dishes, curried chicken salad on crostini and salmon mousse piped onto cucumber slices, “a classic dish that people with average palates would appreciate.”
Hung’s arrogance is only exceeded by his contempt for every palate that is not his own. “You don’t like my leek-Fruit-Loop diorama?” he seemed to be saying, “well then you must love salmon mousse on cucumber slices.”