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There is a moment of celebration as the chefs old enough to understand the reference are thrilled to discover that they will be cooking at Southfork Ranch, the real home of the fictional J.R. Ewing. Somehow, this is possible. The team divides into a quartet of groups with four people assigned to ribeye, the three course. Three people are assigned to the first two courses as well as the desserts. The first course is soup, the second course if sirloin and the third is ribeye. The notable aspect of this exchange is that Edward takes charge of organizational tasks but grows aggravated when Heather announces she will use his same cake recipe from the Quinceañera to use as dessert in the fourth course. Cooking someone else’s dish is already shaky but doing it twice in four episodes demonstrates a lack of imagination.

Aside: the grocery store bill for this meal for 200 is $1,459.51. While the details are never spelled out during the episode, that strikes me as very, very low given all the steak they have to purchase. I presume that must have been without the steaks factored in. Steak and sirloin cost alone should be around $3,000. I mention this only because I had wondered how they would purchase that much meat product at a single store.

Now is the time when someone criticizes Beverly for her selfish behavior. As is the case each week, Beverly immediately begins to work on her own dish, ignoring anyone else’s cooking needs. Heather, who seems to grow bitchier each episode, is fed up with this constant attitude Beverly has. The good news for Heather is that historically on Top Chef, selfish players fail in the end. The bad news is that they are stuck together today, working on the same course.

The third player in their grouping is Dakota, but she seems to be oblivious to all the white noise created by the other women. Oddly, Whitney seems to be the one shafted by Beverly’s selfishness and Heather’s churlishness. Whitney just wants to be left alone to work and even though they are working on a different course, they are upsetting her routine. Edward, who isn’t even working on her course, is also troubled by Whitney’s decision regarding potato gratin. He wants to cook the potatoes tonight, but she has chosen to wait. He feels this will lead to terrible looking potatoes that lack crisp flavor. We’ll see who is right. Since the dish is Whitney’s responsibility, however, Edward is meddling a bit. Then again, it’s refreshing to see the anti-Beverly, someone who takes pride in the overall accomplishment of the group presentation.

This is the time on Top Chef when someone stabs himself with a knife. Ty is the victim this week, becoming the third contestant to do so this season. As a matter of fact, Edward is still wearing protective gear for his injury. Ty gashes himself in the webbing between fingers, probably the worst possible spot in terms of pain and blood. He is directed to go to the hospital, which leads to a freak-out among the other contestants. Ty was placed in charge of the cooking of the meat itself due to his experience; he worked for two years at a pedigreed steakhouse in New York City. In his absence, there is no one in charge of the steak at a steak dinner for 200 people who consider themselves Cattle Barons. There is cause for concern.

Ty returns the following morning with a great story. Even though he left immediately for the emergency room, he was not treated until 6 a.m. the following morning. As he recounts it, he needed four stitches for a cut to his hand. Since there were about 60 people in the waiting room with him, the ones with gunshot wounds and the like were given greater priority. The nurse humorously informed Ty that he can take the next three days off from work…that won’t be happening. So, Ty has gotten virtually no sleep and has fresh stitches in his hand and is about to cook for 200 of the most selective meat eaters in the world. And the temperature outside where he will be grilling is over 110 degrees. Good luck with all that.

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