Sea urchins, oysters and mussels for dessert? This is the challenge that the candidates of Top Chef had to take up. A test where seafood mixes with the sweetness of sugar. If budding chefs were inspired, Internet users were not ready for this culinary experience.
The competition continues. behind the stove, Top Chef candidates fight to stand out, pass the imposed tests and avoid elimination. For this third episode broadcast on M6, Wednesday March 2, 2022, budding chefs had to tackle the sea… but for dessert. An idea developed by the three-starred Spanish chef Ángel León. Elected “European chef of the year” in 2017, he has appeared on the show several times and has made seafood the stars of his recipes from appetizers to desserts.
During his test, the candidates, like him, had to honor seafood in a sweet version, without stifling their iodized taste. A major challenge which, despite its originality, seems to have inspired the chefs. For the violets, the mussel mixes with the seaweed to give the plate a look of the seabed, which is mixed with the scallops in many shades of green.
Scallops, oysters and mussels for dessert
Among oranges, led by Glenn Ciel, Arnaud and Tania made a creme brulee scallop carpaccio. A “walk along the beach” where the praline recalls the sand on its shell. Hélène Darroze’s team opted for oysters soaked in cider mixed with apple on a seaweed crumble. Finally, the blues (Pascal and Sébastien) did everything to avoid defeat with the sea urchin associated with the pavlova-style pear accompanied by a shot of sea urchin juice. All led by a Philippe Etchebest ever more competitive.
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A culinary experience that seems to have inspired the duos, unlike Internet users. On Twitter, they are unanimous: seafood is not a dessert. “Idea level is not stupid! It does not make you want to, but the idea is great”, “Who really wants to taste a Vacherin with mussels?” or even “The more we advance in the seasons, the less the tests make me hungry in front of my TV”, can we read among the many comments.
An event that the purple team won. “It’s the most accomplished dessert and represents what would be the most a marine dessert,” said the Spanish chef. The blues in turn qualified thanks to “the play with the textures and the right amount of sugar so as not to lose the iodine”.
