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Tonight’s Iron Chef Gauntlet was a high-stakes situation, as usual.
The show began airing last year, and follows seven chefs from across the country. The last chef who remains standing takes on the “gauntlet” challenge, which means he must defeat three other Iron Chefs in order to earn the title of Iron Chef.
The iron chefs this year have been announced as Alex Guarnaschelli, Stephanie Izard (who won last season), and Michael Symon.
For the first part of the cook-off, the chefs were given bread as an ingredient. Chef Thaimee, who is gunning to be the first female Thai winner of Iron Chef, created a Thai iced tea ice cream sandwich dish. She was the only one of the chefs to create a dessert dish, and ultimately was named the winner of this round.
Chef Dale MacKay vs. Chef David LeFevre
Chef MacKay had the lowest-rated dish. Chef Thaimee chose Chef LeFevre has his competitor. The 60-min competition asked for the men to use beets as their secret ingredient.
Tension was high as those who were safe watched MacKay take on LeFevre.
Chef LeFevre created three dishes: black bass and sea urchin crudo with candy-striped beets, roasted red baby beets with blue crab and beet green chimichurri, and a beet and red cabbage borshct with salmon.
Chef Dale MacKay created beet and salt-cured snapper with candy cane and golden beets, a Thai beet broth with haddock wrapped in red beet leaves, and a beet sorbet.
Each judge could award up to 20 pounds for every three dishes. The winner of the secret ingredient showdown was Chef LeFevre. He even earned the nickname “la flavor” over the course of the night. This meant that Chef Dale MacKay had to say goodbye to the group.
Iron Chef Gauntlet
As fans have clearly noticed already, chef Bobby Flay is not present this season. Last season, during the middle of an Iron Chef Showdown battle, Flay tore off his apron to reveal a shirt that read, “This is my last iron chef battle ever.” Speaking to South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Flay said, “I’ve done over 100 Iron Chef competitions, and frankly they are exhausting… They are exhausting physically but, even moreso, they are exhausting emotionally.”
Whether or not anyone will have the chops to beat Guarnaschelli, Symon, and Izard, is still up for debate.
Be sure to tune into Iron Chef Gauntlet, Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT on the Food Network.