Hell’s Kitchen Coverage: Clean Some Fish

The chefs find themselves knee deep in fish and not knowing their left from right in a new episode of “Hell’s Kitchen.”

This week’s episode once again begins with the chefs being awakened by a loud noise. This time it’s Sous Chef James blowing an air horn. Not as creative as a bunch of clocks going off, but it got them out of bed in a hurry.

They were told to go outside where they found two kiddy pools filled with water, two North Pole style signs with names of four fish on them (halibut, salmon, cod and trout) and some snow. The day’s challenge was to make teams of two people, one person in one pool and one in the other, and collect the heads and tails of each fish listed. The team to get all four fish correct got an advantage in the second part of the challenge.

The Blue won that challenge and their advantage was a five-minute head start. The second part was for each pairing to cook two dishes of the same fish and the best fish got a point for the team. The guest judge was executive chef/owner of “Connie and Ted’s” Michael Cimarusti. The Blue did terrible in this part with Bret getting the only point for the Blue. The worst part was Adam using Milly’s rice which Ramsay did not take kindly to.

The Red’s reward was they spent the day surfing with professional surfer Anastasia Ashley. Nothing much can be said here since it was pretty uneventful.

For their terrible performance, the Blue team was forced to clean fish the rest of the day. This was where we saw more of Michael’s stupidity. Sous Chef James said lunch was going to be at ten after and Michael went right up to the dorms and started making lunch. How he did not hear ten after is a mystery. Also, he should know that “lunch” in “Hell’s Kitchen” means something disgusting. This time it was peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches. Yes, peanut butter and jellyfish. Cue the typical disgusting gagging noises.

Also, Randy said that he is always cleaning fish because he goes fishing all the time and then immediately cuts himself with the fish knife so bad he had to be rushed to the hospital. The “Hell’s Kitchen” editors sure have great timing when it comes to irony. He did return for dinner service.

Dinner service this week was the very first train wreak of the season. Both teams were at their worst here.

The Blue started off with Michael being stupid again. He decided to start making garnish for entrees when he was supposed to be helping Milly make flat bread. It’s astounding where his head is at all times. It continued when he put a hot pan where the cool pans were. Ramsay even told him he could’ve cause a chef to get a third-degree burn. One of the more head scratching moments was when a diner found a piece of plastic in his scallops. How that got past Ramsay is a mystery. Nick would then bring up back to back raw pork and a raw lamb. That got the team thrown out.

The Red’s troubles started with Mieka only bringing up half a portion of risotto. Meghan was all over Mieka, telling her pretty much how to do her job. Good thing it didn’t start an all out argument. Mieka did bring up a salty risotto. T backed up the kitchen when she not only burned a flat bead, but couldn’t keep up with the orders. After another horrible risotto and cavatelli, Ramsay threw the entire Red Team out. Sarah was even brave (or stupid) enough to ask for a second chance.

As a surprise, Ramsay for the first time went into the dorms and told the chefs to nominate two people. The Blue nominated Michael and Nick and the Red had Mieka and Christine. Michael got eliminated.

The reward sections this season so far have been pretty dull. The challenges are pretty interesting and dinner service brings on what the viewer wants. Michael getting eliminated just took a huge weight off of the Blue team. This was an overall decent episode.