If you look at the ratio of liquid to rice in 19th century cookbooks you will see that the so-called traditional, soupy risotto is a modern phenomenon, and that the older recipes were less soupy. No one likes dry risotto, but soupy is in no way authentic.

I loved this episode, especially because it was hilarious! I cracked up when one of the judges joked about the poor bastard in witness protection eating the subpar dish (I believe it was Dale's)!

My boyfriend and I adore Southern Italian cuisine (he's half Italian) and long for the day we get to sit down and eat at Rao's. In the meantime, this episode has inspired me to throw on an apron and cook some of the delicious recipes from Rao's website.

Tom -- my mom grew up in Elizabeth too and I LOVE LOVE Spiritos! My favorite is starting off with their plain pizza and moving on to their amazing and simple ravioli. I'll be at Colicchio & Sons this Friday celebrating a friend's bday, I'm excited to try it.

Tom

I love the show, and you do an excellent job. I was perplexed by your comments, both here in during the episode, in which you say that if risotto is not runny then it is not risotto. That is not how I cook risotto, and it is not how I find most risotto when I eat out. But, not being Italian, I asked Marcella Hazan what she thought (she is my facebook friend), as it is her risotto I cook. Her reply was as follows:

"Ciao David, American chefs who go to Italy suffer from a Moses complex, they are always coming down from the mount with a tablet of rules for the unlearned. What he should have said is, "If you go to Venice ...". Yes, our Venetian risotto, while not quite soupy unless it's made with peas, is indeed runny, and of course we love it. But in Bologna and in Piedmont, risotto is firmly clingy and it is not less delicious. As for the chef who adds cream, well, follow my example, pay no attention to chefs. Ciao, ciao. Marcella"

So unless this is another Italian-American mussel rule that I don't quite follow, I think I'm going to defer to Marcella Hazan on this point.

Keep making this fabulous show please.

All the best
David Downie
Brisbane, Australia.

This was a confusing blog, and i went back and watched the episode and I'm still confused by Tom's remarks and what the chefs were asked to do. I'll leave it to poor editing in that instructions for the challenge are shortened and we at home often miss out on dialogue for action scenes...finger cuting, running through the kitchen etc.

I loved this episode...It totally reminded of Sunday dinners and my sicilian mother's cooking...Great memories of great food, simply done and delicious!

Where is episode 9???

NOOOOOOO.. Not Fabio......I know you guys have to pick the worst food but can't we just get Fabio back because I ADORE HIM...what a beautiful man..he is funny and charming. Huge crush on Fabio.. If there is a fan favorite for this season then I hope it is him again.

hello: i am a loyal fan of top chef but im concerned about this season. i remember the richard blaise season and everyone said "its his season to lose". well i think he heard that and it went to his head. he makes faces that are not convincing at all. his dishes are not "stand out". please dont LET him win this season. there are many other chefs that have cooked more consistand dishes. his unique style of cooking isnt enough to make him a top chef when compared to some of the others. i like him and love the show but it seems "fishy" to me.

I understand there are different cooking methods, according to regional variation, for risotto. In and around Venice, the risotto is more runny, but stiffer in other areas of Italy. Is this not true?
I am very curious to know what Tre got right the first time around. If, as you mention, he just never knew how to cook it correctly in the first place, why did he win with a similar dish a few years ago on season 3?

I am hoping, and wishing that Carla wins!!! Since the season when she allowed Casey to influence her cooking style, and ruin everything, she has learned her lesson!!! Carla, deserves to take it all the way!!!

I think it was amusing that the Rao's group could not "love" any of the dishes. They are such purists. Funny describing Carla's winning soup as from Wisconsin. They were probably the toughest judges you've ever had because they were looking for authenticity. Clearly they love their food best. It was a fun show because they were such genuine "characters".

LOL! When I saw the blog about missing Jamie's italian scallops I almost choaked on my dinner...TOOOO FUNNY...

BTW...Casey got ROBBED. So would love to see her battling it out with Fabio, Richard, Carla and Antonia.

How is one supposed to get risotto runny? I've made it many times and I don't think it's every been runny...

I have got the perfect challenge for your chefs Tom!!!!

I think they should wear plastic gloves at least one size to big for their hands. In the 8 seasons, I have been watching, I haven't seen any of them wear gloves. I have seen a few of them getting cut and bleeding none stop.

I DO love the show! I've never been to New York but if I get there I would defintely make your restaurant my second stop after paying my respects to ground zero.

Angelo, which rock did you crawl out from under? Did you actually tell Isaac Mizrahi to his face that Roberto Cavalli is one of your favorite fashion designers, and then not mention Isaac's designs during the conversation?

I'd be very curious to know if Padma's peach satin dress that she wore during the quickfire with Isaac is one of his designs.

Carla's reactions during the interviews are so funny, and I hope she or Richard wins.

Every time someone goes home, you know you’ll be getting a lot of flack. Is that how you justify it? Could it not be that the judging is flawed? Personally I don’t have a favourite yet, and perhaps I never will since I’m losing faith in this show. I’ve been an avid Top Chef watcher and this challenge was also very close to my heart since I too have Italian roots. Now that I have something that I could relate to, I am questioning the fairness in all challenges, from all episodes.

This is like a fairytale gone bad...Goldidress and the three Italian Bears seems fitting.

Goldidress (Padma, of course)
Fabio Bear – Too Italian
Tre Bear – Too American
Antonia Bear – American/Italian, just right

Although ratings may be high right now, I suggest you make it clear for us that make a difference that we understand the rules and they don’t change according to what is going on behind the scenes. Like someone was avoiding a dead horse in their bed.

Isaac Mizrahi might as well have judged the elimination challenge...and it would have made more sense...Fabio would have won and Tre wouldn’t have been sent home packing.

"Fabios comment that mussels are French missed an important point and was, therefore, off the mark. The chefs were not asked to make Italian food, but, rather, to be inspired by what generations of Raos and Pellegrinos have done at Rao's, which is homey Italian-American food."

Hmm, then why was here so much emphasis on the "traditional" Italian meal of the antipasti, primi, secundi..? Italian -American v.s. Italian-French food.. imo, the second version won it

We no speak Americano up here in Canada, so it seems the rules for cooking Italian are lost in the translation. As well, I'm appalled to hear that our sacred "sauce" is called "gravy"! Gravy is brown goes on meat and sometimes fries. Come on Tom, you didn't like sausages being called "Italian sausages" but you'll join the masses and call our precious sauce "gravy"? Che peccato.

So I was wrong after all -- in this case/episode, authenticity was not the kiss of death but the kiss of life. And only Italian chefs could have made it -- that being said, Mike I. should have gone. On the pasta course of all things.

Someone does need to address the disconnect between Tre's previous risotto and this one. I'm surprised you ignored that elephant in the room.

Very interesting about the mussels and Fabio's comment. I grew up in northern NJ - I'm not Italian, but everyone I know basically is - EVERYONE ate mussels. I always thought of them as Italian, now I realize they are north Jersey Italian-American!

Thanks for the comments, Tom. I better appreciate why Tre caught the ax but I still don't understand. In the Chinese challenge, there were many chefs dinged because their tastes defied traditional convention, but you sent home the person whose food was uniformly deemed inedible.

Here, though, the looks and description of Dale's pasta registered "inedible' but you sent home the person whose tastes broke convention. This isn't the first time consistency in judging parameters has been called into question. Was taste more important this time because Italian is closer to home?

Nevertheless, thanks for the blogging! On the winner side, you completely helped us understand why Antonia was the winner.

We all missed Jamie's Italian scallops.

I've been a fan of the show from the beginning, and if I've ever missed anything have gone back to it as soon as possible. I've cajoled and encouraged friends and family into watching it. That said, the QF was a total shame. It's one kind of lame that you have a "one pan challenge sponsored by dish soap" but hey, that's how the show makes its money. It's a entirely different beast (a lot was said by you not being there, or commenting on it at all in your blog) that you bend over to cross promote hosts of other shows on your network and create a challenge not having anything to do with taste, or cooking really, at all. And then follow it with a challenge of a meal served family-style where plating and presentation are all but thrown out the window, and rightfully so as it was ALL ABOUT TASTE.
You won them an Emmy, plant your feet and say NO.

I forgot to tell ya that..I LOVE LORRAINE BRACCO..good judge and she makes me laugh.

hey Tom
sorry tre had to go but its becoming harder and harder for the judges since most are the the BEST of The BEST. I did not taste the food but the simplicity of Anotonias dish I no would win. It looked good and I saw the way one of the guy sopped it up with the bread(good job ANTONIA)Even though in the back of my mind I no they would choose an ITALlIAN ..WITH THAT SAID I AM STILL ROUTING FOR CARLA.
btw TOM I LOVED THE TENNIS CHALLEGE CHEF AGAINST CHEF.

Just wondering why nobody made a meatloaf, after taking extensive notes and seeing the glistening of Frankie's eyes when he said how much he LOVED it! I think listening and ego are two main issues for the chefs. I know you love meatloaf and have taken considerable time to perfect it because I have memorized your recipe. Had that been served, at least TWO people would have been pleased.

I'm an Italian/Canadian both parents 'right off the boat' and am having a hard time understanding the challenge. Tom you say, 'The chefs were not asked to make Italian food, but, rather, to be inspired...(by) homey Italian-American food.' What does that mean? Why was it based on how to make Italian food properly? Or that it should have been American inspired? Italian-American food could be considered Chef-Boyardee based on your intrepretation. As well, we here in Canada also did not have the luxury of imported Italian ingredients but my mom made Italian food not 'Canadian inspired' whatever that would be. The rules of this challenge are all over the place. As well, the Quickfire challenge was truly an insult to the chefs.

Actually as a Black American woman, I could look at that risotto and knew it wasn't going to work. Risotto is my "go-to" dish and I find stirring and stirring and stirring really theraputic. I liked all three who were on the bottom and as many before me have said - now it will become very difficult to watch chefs go home. It is what it is - a competition. Tre is most gracious and I would love to see him again. We need more Black Americans with their own cooking shows and I think he would be fantastic - talented, great screen face. Wait! That was my personal dream. Well having Parkinsons Stage 3 - that ain't gonna happen, but I would love to live through someone else - hint hint!

PS - the quickfire challenge was totally stupid - never, ever, ever do that again.

Tre was as delicious to watch as the food presented...for that reason I hated to see him go. I've watched the eppy a few times and is still think it was rude the way the cheftestants reacted to Antonia's win. When the judges and guests were eating the meal for some reason that we can't taste through the tv...all the people eating loved her dish most. Rooting for Fabio too and poor thing it just seems he has been a hair off for some reason to the judges...but the editors seem to LOVE him! Really made me understand why Tre went home a bit better after reading the blogs. I was like a lot of you I really figured it was Mike or Dale's turn to go. All in all a good eppy...except for the "you have got to be kidding me" rediculous quickfire challenge. What a joke!

Tom, you made a mistake in the show when you said that polenta was a typical Southern Italian dish. I lived in Sicily for many years, and trust me, I never ate polenta there, never saw it on a menu, never ate it at anyone's house. It's more of a Northern Italian dish, which explains why Fabio made it, since he is from Florence, I think. A real southern Italian meal would have been: caponata for the antipasto, pasta alla norma for the primo, and grilled horsemeat for the secondo.

Thank you! This episode remined me of my grandmother's kitchen on a
Sunday. She wanted to come to this country where anything was possible. She
learned about the different cultures around her by the food. We got to try her
versions - one different dish - on Sunday. She would have been happy about the
mussels especially if everything was Fresh!The garden, the fish, the poultry, the spices we learned them from the G-parents. Maybe it's a generational or
an East Coast thing but they wanted us to be Americans where people of different cultures lived together and could become whatever they dreamed of
with hard work and a little luck. The smells make the memories!

We all missed Jamie's Italian scallops.

None of us tasted the food, so none of us can rightfully say who should have gone home. However, we posters can analyze the reasons provided for those decisions. Accordingly, I've got to take exception with Tom's logic here. Antonia made a dish that by his own admission was not classically Italian, but was 'Italian American' for the reasons he listed. Fabio, who obviously knows Italian food, wasn't sufficiently 'Italian American'. Yet Tre's problem was that he, having eaten and worked in American Italian restaurants, didn't cook risotto that was sufficiently authentic. It tasted good, but wasn't "something you would see in Italy." That seems to be a performative contradiction, no?

Moreover, I really take issue with the phrase "Italian" and "Italian-American" cooking. There is nothing in the world that is "Italian" cooking any more than food is 'Chinese'. Tom himself made an identical observation when noting that one of the contestants referred to 'Italian Sausage". "We just call it sausage," was Tom's reply. Well, in Italy, they obviously don't call it 'Italian Food' for the same reason. There are tremendous regional varieties in cooking styles in Italy. Tuscan food bears a family resemblance to Calabrian or Sicilian (where Rao's restaurant draws their inspiration), obviously, but to call one or the other 'authentic' Italian is as meaningless as calling Sichuan or Cantonese "THE" only authentic Chinese food.

The point on which the judges criticized Tre's food was that it wasn't sufficiently 'Italian American'. Well, in the north of Italy, risotto genuinely is less 'creamy' than in the south. Being of northern Italian heritage myself, I consider the soupy variety to be the inauthentic version. Same goes for Italian American. Anyone who has eaten a pizza before knows that New York Italian and, say, Chicago Italian is not an identical entity. Though equally Italian-American, there simply are regional differences in Italian American cooking. Ever heard of 'Cal-Ital'? Is that somehow less Italian-American because the ingredients are influenced by the produce and resources of California than the cuisine influenced by NYC?

In a show of stereo types (...in walks 'Dino', in walks 'Junior'...with names like those, they must be mobsters! ...um...racism much?), to eliminate admittedly fine-tasting risotto because it didn't measure up to one's private stereo type seems particularly hypocritical.

Tre is gone, gone, gone! Stand up and sing, dance! On a recent episode when he won the quickfire and $20 grand (plus immunity) he stil couldn't find it in himself to share some of his fish in the elimination round with another competitor who was in a bind. Selfish, selfish, Tre! People don't respect someone who behaves like that.

Best Episode you've had in a long time. It was the first week I didn't want anyone to leave. Maybe you guys should go to Italy for the finale!

I was sad to see Tre go home instead of Dale. All season we've witnessed Dale mouth off, slack off during team challenges, and just be a pain.

People loved to hate Marcel, but at least Marcel had some charisma, some kind of thing that sparkled. Dale, on the other hand, is just awful, miserable to watch. I'm counting the days until he's finally off the show.

Tom my mother-in-law always called her tomato sauce "gravy" and I still do today.
Are the terms regional or prepared differently?

Love the blogs, but Bourdain contradicts your response to Fabio on what the challenge was in his latest blog:

"By the way, you'll be serving that family-style -- all in one plate or bowl in the center of the table. And you'll be serving it to a family. Capisce? Frankie even said: 'Cook an Italian feast for me and my family.' "

This was one of the most disappointing episodes of Top Chef I have witnessed from any season, especially since I am not a lover of mussels. The inability of the chefs to cook a simple Italian meal (I would have made a lasagna bolognese, some sort of ragu or anything from the Rao's cookbook which we use often at home and which never fails us) reminded me of a story I was told many years ago about the Young Rascals. They were beginning to gain some notoriety and a friend was at a small gathering where they were playing music. Someone asked them to play happy birthday and, believe it or not, the drummer did not know how to play the tune. These chef's simply could not play the tune of straight forward Italian fare. Amazing! I once had the pleasure of dining at Rao's with my mom and dad, my wife, my brother and sister-in-law. It was a spectacular meal in every sense. My father was able to get a table from a friend of a friend. The food was right on the mark in every respect and they truly made us feel like we were regulars and members of the family in a way that I have never experienced at another restaurant. My father is no longer alive and I am fortunate to have many lasting memories which remain fresh in my mind. Many of those memories revolve around food (my dad was in the restaurant business) and Rao's is near the top of the list. I really need to figure out a way to get back there if for no other reason than to keep the memory alive.

OMG Spiritos!! I loved that place. Never mattered how large your party was the waitresses NEVER wrote down an order. And butter was never ever put on the table for bread. I remember smiling at the people who would bring a stick a butter with them.

And Chestnut Tavern....another oldie but goodie.

When I worked at the courthouse in Elizabeth we frequented both of those places quite often and were never disappointed.