Top Chef Does Thanksgiving Pilgrim-Style

These chefs are in for a surprise. Spoiler: it includes a cranberry bog and rigorous exercise.

Boston loves their cranberries -- and it's time for these country and city folk to harvest them. Get your overalls on cheftestants.

You don't see this very often on Top Chef. . .or really anywhere.

The first challenge is giving the cheftestants quite a work out -- who can collect the most cranberries first? The winner will be handsomely rewarded with an advantage in the Quickfire Challenge.

Katsuji may need to be resuscitated -- any volunteers?

Top Chef alum and Boston native Tiffani Faison is ready to judge today's Quickfire.

The chefs have to create a dish that honors the cranberries they just captured fresh from the bog -- and Tiffani would prefer if their dish is a little unexpected.

The four chefs who were fastest in the cranberry competition get the advantage of a high-end side of the pantry to choose ingredients from -- which means there is a mad dash for the rest of the chefs.

Katsuji and Mei work side-by-side on their cranberry-inspired dishes.

At this point in the competition, the chefs have definitely cooked in more crowded kitchens than this one.

We can't help but admire the great hairstyle each contestant has -- practical and stylish.

Gregory carefully plates his sweet and sour cranberry sauce.

Will Tiffani be impressed with Gregory's arctic char?

The two Bostonites meet again!

The chefs head to a setting they may not have cooked in before...an authentic recreation of a 17th century-style pilgrim village.

It's time to make Thanksgiving dinner, just like the pilgrims did.

The chefs are given the same ingredients and tools that were used during the very first Thanksgiving, so there's a lot of wood and not a lot of much else.

Cooking in the 17th century wasn't easy.

Modern day pilgrims, doing their thing.

Ken Oringer and Tom stop by to check out the interesting cooking situation going on.

Stacy is literally in the dirt cooking clams...it can't get more rustic than this.

Doug discusses his spit-roasted rabbit -- who knew rabbit was served at the first Thanksgiving?

Adrienne Mollor is an actual cranberry grower -- these contestants better impress!

Keriann explains why she switched from blueberry pie to venison -- Tom is definitely intrigued to see how this will turn out.

Mei tells the chefs about her duck fat-roasted cabbage. Duck fat makes pretty much anything better, so could this be a solid win for Mei?

Look at these guys getting down and dirty!

There will be two Thanksgiving meals today -- that's right, TWO. The chefs are serving in two groups, so it's time to loosen up those belts.

The judges are joined by descendents of the colonists and the Wampanoag tribe, which is sure to make for a meal full of culture and history.

Tom talks about the Thanksgivings he knew as a kid in an Italian family -- lasagna first!

Ken and Gail are having a great time, despite the musky flavor they tasted in Stacy's clams.

There is a lot to be learned from these dining companions, and Tom and Padma are listening intently.

This is truly Thanksgiving done right, in honor of tradition.

It's time to deliberate -- what did the judges think of this Thanksgiving feast?

Although all of the dishes were enjoyable, the judges still have to figure out which were the weakest. No one said this would be easy!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Top Chef family!

Now that the "King of Top Chef" (as Katsuji has named Gregory), has had an off day, Katsuji can't help but think about how advantageous it would be if Gregory were to be eliminated.