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In Defense of Stefan: Toby Young explains why he fought for a victory for Stefan.

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It is hard to watch last night’s episode and not feel sorry for Carla. Her cooking got stronger and stronger as the season progressed and she looked poised to cause an upset. Her appetizer was delicious, her first course was even better, and, for a moment there, all the judges thought she was going to win. So what went wrong?

Two words: Casey Thompson. OK, that’s a bit harsh. It’s more like Casey was sent to test Carla: Will she or won’t she follow Casey’s advice? And she failed. Not that Casey is a bad cook. It’s just that her style is completely different from Carla’s. Carla stated at the outset that what she wanted to do was give us her version of meat and potatoes — and if she had only done that she might have gone on to win Top Chef. But Carla listened to Casey when she told her she needed to make her meal more complicated, that her simple, down-home style wouldn’t be good enough to win the competition. That was crazy, since it’s precisely that style that had got Carla into the final, but for some reason — whether because she lacked confidence or because she was too nice to tell Casey to take a running jump — Carla abandoned her plan and went with Casey’s. Result: Carla’s second and third courses were a disaster.

Eliminating Carla was the easy part. Deciding between Stefan and Hosea was fiendishly difficult. For the first time in Season 5, Tom and I were completely at loggerheads. We’ve disagreed before at Judges Table, but never like this. In tonight’s episode, you get a glimpse of this when my voice suddenly goes all high — it’s the moment when I’m defending Stefan’s dessert, but that scarcely conveys just how passionately we disagreed. It really was a bun fight.

I asked Tom at the outset whether the same rule applied to judging the finale as it did to all the other challenges, namely, that we had to disregard everything the chefs had done before and judge them entirely on their performance that day. He said it did, but with one caveat: if we whittled the finalists down to two, and there was nothing to choose between them, we could bring in their past performances as a tie-breaker.

As far as I was concerned, that was exactly the situation in last night’s episode — and, for that reason, we ought to give it to Stefan, who clearly performed better over the course of the season than Hosea. My argument went like this: Stefan and Hosea tied the appetizer and the first course; Stefan won the second; and Hosea won the third. So that was one win each, deadlock.

Comments

275 Comments

12/01/2009 - 3:29pm

ViewerFromCanada

PS - Stefan's arrogance was laced with humor and self-depreciation, and balanced by his compassion, charm and humility. Contrast Stefan's attitude with Michael V's in Season 6, who is full-of-himself and cut-throat.

Not that personality should have swayed the judges decision! It was the technique, skills, flavours, etc. that should have been judged.

12/01/2009 - 3:27pm

ViewerFromCanada

Thank you for your honest critique and fair judging. I truly wish your decision had prevailed over the American judges, and that you will return with regularity to keep the other judges on their toes.

I also hope that Stefan receives some award/accolate/opportunity from the Top Chef program that he has not already received in appreciation for his outstanding skills and performance on Season 5.

04/27/2009 - 9:56am

Viewer

Good on you mate.
Judges with clear mind like you are the reason why I always like british cooking shows than american ones. At least you don't see a model sit there and judge a professional chef's work.

And, Hosea, please do not use canned scallopes in a fine meal again, please.

: 03/18/2009 - 8:49pm; Kate; Thank you so much for your refreshing and honest take on the food! Stefan was fantastic, he should have won.

: 03/08/2009 - 1:13am; Kait; I was sure Stefan was going to win it. I really didn't expect hosea to make it so far, or win for that matter. I wanted to break my television. Wrong choice. >:(

: 03/05/2009 - 4:09am; Terry; I've loved Stefan from the very first. Once again confidence is mistaken (purposefully?) for ooh arrogance-that dreaded word which could probably describe most of the Top Chefs in the World. I thought Stefan's attitude was fine. Refreshing, humorous and gee, is it arrogant when a person can shrug off mistakes & get it up for the next challenge? Tom should admit that he personally wanted to take Stefan down a notch or two. I think Stefan doesn't need anyone to tell him he's good-he knows it. American men could learn a thing or two from European men
& not only in the kitchen. I shall truly miss Stefan; he
should have his own show. Better yet, can you get him to replace Tom? Ha!Just kidding, Tom. But you need to get over yourself. We all know that our Finnish lad has that ability so who is the truly "arrogant"one?

: 03/05/2009 - 2:16am; scott; The next head judge of top chief, Toby Young

: 03/04/2009 - 9:32pm; malieta; I also want to add that I hope you return to Top Chef next season Toby. The other judges are too wishy washy and it feels good to hear the truth about what the chefs have cooked! Although after this season, I think Bravo should change the name of the show to Top Cook for the obvious reasons!!!!! *lmao*

: 03/04/2009 - 6:52pm; Viewer; Thanks Toby, I can't believe Stephan did win!! Don't the judges consider the past wins and this clearly belong to Stephan. Hosea was always in the middle and bottom.ugh Watch Leah come back to the 100 thousand dollars oops I mean Hosea, yea right..they deserve each other. Come back next season.

03/04/2009 - 11:11am

Fourth Stooge

Stefan cooked a dessert that Hosea could not have done. Hosea won with sliced venison on a puree. Everyone generally agreed that the blackberry sauce was quite bad. A sauce can both save and ruin a dish. If the sauce was bad, quite simply the dish was bad.

Stefan somehow lost points for the "eighties" presentation of his dessert. But no one commented on Hosea's stack from 1992? How about that blackened fish on toast? Very Red Lobster.

I understand the rules. Each competition is a standalone elimination. But using some basic common sense, I think on the last episode it is appropriate to examine history and strengths. Could Stefan have prepared everything Hosea prepared, and possibly better? Absolutely. Could Hosea have prepared Stefan's menu? Hell no. He would have stumbled on the alligator and never gotten up.

The finale also came down to The Rules which permitted Hosea to: 1) horde the foie gras, 2) avoid dessert, and 3) choose the superior sous chef.

So basically Stefan could not make what he wanted. His foie gras dish was off the menu. He also had to come up with an alligator concoction.

Hosea was basically able to skate on his pre-planned menu while Stefan had to scramble.

That being said, I'm looking forward to season 6 where I'm sure I'll see more BS eggs on toast with bacon.

Maybe the show should be renamed Chef of the Day?