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In Battle: Salmon, Katsuji aims to take Aaron down with a sake-infused chipotle broth with salmon. Aaron has a lightly-smoked wild salmon with tarragon. Katsuji wins because Aaron’s dish just didn’t have enough smoke.

In Battle: Trout en Papiotte, Keriann’s trout with white wine butter sauce edges Stacy’s trout with heirloom tomatoes. She just had more texture and balance.

Finally, in Battle: Steamed Mussels, Doug comes out on top with his mussels in orange and saffron butter. His mussels were cooked properly, unlike Adam’s Vadouvan-spiced mussels with Fresno chili.

And, as the overall winner, we have Greg. Okay, so forget what I said earlier about Greg and Mei Lin being the favorites to take home the title. Greg is the clear frontrunner, and Mei is in distant second. For those counting at home, this is Greg’s second Quickfire win. He’s thrilled, as he not only won the whole challenge, but he took down “the Dumpling Princess.” Call me crazy, but that sounded just a teeny bit racist to me.

On to the Elimination Challenge. Padma unveils a poster listing five of the most critical battles of the revolutionary war: Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Trent, Saratoga, and Yorktown. The five winners will cook head-to-head against the five losers. A victory in a head-to-head battle will win each team one point - first to three wins the “war.”

The winners and losers each name the order in which the individual chefs will battle. While Padma urges them to pick their chefs in a calculated fashion, each loser seems intensely keen on getting a rematch with the winner who bested them. Thus, we have rematches of Adam/Doug, Greg/Mei, and Keriann/Stacy. There’s not so much strategy, as a desire for revenge. The final two pairings will be Katsuji vs. Melissa, and Aaron vs. Katie - a rematch from the Sudden Death Quickfire two episodes ago.

Another twist: the chefs will have to cook for 1,000 guests before engaging in their head-to-head battles in front of the judges. Each team will only have $10,000 total - meaning $2,000 per chef, and $2 per guest. “Food is scarce in times of war,” Jamie tells them.

The chefs head off to Whole Foods to start their shopping. If I were one of the chefs, I’d be throwing a fit. “Let’s go to Market Basket instead!” I would scream, “it’s way cheaper!” I would then advise them to beware of slipping on the piles of sawdust that Market Basket leaves in the produce aisles to soak up dripping water from their (admittedly, very fresh) produce.

The chefs begin discussing their strategies for winning their head-to-head battles. Mei Lin knows that Greg cooks with big, bold flavors, so she’s going to incorporate a couple of her own. She’s doing Korean BBQ.

Meanwhile, Katsuji isn’t intimidated by Melissa’s fine-dining background. He’s doing a homey tostada with goat cheese. (Meanwhile, Melissa is having serious issues with the texture of her white gazpacho).

Elsewhere, Greg isn’t “strategizing” so much as assuming total control over his team. He instructs each chef to make a sample of their dish and offers critiques/instructions on how to improve/tweak the dish. His strategy for winning, it seems, is to insert himself into each person’s process.

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