I'd like to see a vegetarian QF in which the cheftestants *must* use a veg-friendly protein - tofu, seitan, tempeh, or TVP.

OR...

Since pasta salads tend to get cheftestants eliminated, there could be a QF in which the chefs must produce a tasty and unusual pasta salad.

I heart the pasta salad idea -- every time the dish is mentioned on the show, Tom makes some derisive comment about it. Maybe he'd enjoy one.

Do you think the seitan would go better for the cheftestants on a future season? It didn't go so well for Jen (who made that stuffed pepper at the beginning of this season). --Justine

I think Tom had a traumatic experience with pasta salad as a child. Maybe his pasta salad was never good enough. --Liz

How about a great grains challenge...30 minutes to create a tasty, healthful main dish utilizing an "unusual" starch...quinoa, spelt, barley, buckwheat, amaranth...

Or a $20 mystery basket challenge...30 minutes to create something wonderful from the common ingredients in the basket. If everyone has the same ingredients, the best Chefs dishes should stand out.

Quinoa is quite easy to cook with and doesn't take long at all, so that would be a good quickfire idea. The myster basket is intriguing -- what kinds of things would you put in it? Anything weird? --Justine

How about making a dessert in 20 minutes without complaining once about it?

In seriousness, I like the more realistic challenges -- dinner for a family on a budget, substantive vegetarian/vegan meals -- because the chefs are forced to stretch beyond their comfort zones. I'd like to see a "dinner for one" QF, and the chefs all have to use the same four or five basic ingredients.

Ha! If you eliminated the chefs who complained, less than half of them would get to plate their dishes.

There seemed to be more interest in serving "realistic" meals last season -- I remember the cooking with kids and cooking on a budget challenges, and we haven't seen much of that lately. The dinner for one would be a nice change. --Justine

I would absolutey LOVE a dinner for one challenge. I cook for one all the time, and to get some gourmet-type ideas would be awesome. Or would dinner for one to them be just an amuse bouche? Or a Schwan's frozen meal from the Top Chef line? --Liz

I have a few ideas.

One: a food pyramid challenge. Make a dish that has a serving of each of the main food groups - but still tastes amazing!

Two: create 5 small dishes one for each of the 5 tastes that encompasses that taste in a single bite.

Three: Create a delicious meal for children. Say 10 and under. (Then picture kids as guest judges!) Most things that the chefs make would never pass a picky kid's lips.

Four: Rainbow QF. Make the most colorful, yet delicious plate you can!

Five: Make a meal out of only frozen foods. Meat, veggies, etc. They can be pre-thawed to save time.

Six: Make the chefs say the one place they most want to visit before they die. Then make them make a dish to represent that place.

Could we call the frozen food one the Soccer Mom Challenge? I'm sure all the chefs would complain about having to cook like normal people (without their farm-to-table ingredients and yuzu).

I also like the veggies-heavy dishes, because most of those fancy-restaurant meals have more butter than vegetables.

The kids as judges has been done before, but I like the exotic places idea. It made me think of Hung's Smurf cereal village. Ha! --Justine

My vote would be for a Broccolini Quickfire where they prepare some dish featuring that in honor of CJ and his famous airline meal elimination challenge. And he should be the returning guest chef judge.

How did I miss that episode? I swear I saw the quickfire, too, but I just read a recap of it -- and it isn't even familiar! I must've missed it 1,934 times because of all the reruns!

Still, a worthy entry. Liz laughed heartily. --Justine

Yes, heartily I did laugh. Mostly beacuse I had a huge crush on CJ (yes, I know. I make it seem like I've got a crush on everyone on the show) and loooove Anthony Bourdain, who was the guest judge during that elimination challenge. --Liz

I would love to see a low sodium challenge, a Quickfire or even an Elimination one where the chefs have to make 3 low sodium courses. A fun challege would be for the chefs to create their favorite comfort meal, then after they're done shopping they are surprised to have to draw knives with names and they end up having to take the ingredients of another chef and make their meal intead.

I seem to recall the chefs having to switch around what they were cooking before, but I do like the low sodium idea. The few occasions where the cheftestants have to cook healthy, I don't remember any mention of salt. That would be hard (unless they're making dessert). --Justine

I know I can't enter, but just feel the need to comment. That broccolini challenge is an inspired idea. I believe chef Tom called it the single worst dish we have ever had on the show. And Tony Bourdain was the guest judge for that episode, what are the odds? Also, I like the low sodium challenge since I am dealing with that right now. I fact, I have a pot of lentil stew on the stove...yum! My idea (not to be considered) is that they can cook anything that they want but it has to be in the style of a former cheftestant who they also have to dress as.

Dressing as a particular cheftestant shouldn't be TOO hard -- I mean, they all have to wear the white coat, right? I guess they could get fake tattoos or a Spike hat, but who were you thinking of that would make a great costume?

I'm going to have to find that episode. I love Bourdain when he's upset! --Justine

btw...heavenly photo, gals!!!

Swoon!

P.S. -- Even Liz, whose Bros. V.! loyalties lie with Michael, swooned a little at this picture. --Justine

There's something about the sunburst in the photo that made it swoon-worthy. --Liz

A gluten-free food challenge! It requires some thought and education, since gluten is found most obviously in wheat, barley, and rye products, but also shows up in soy sauce, seasoning mixes, flavorings and extracts, and lots of other surprising places! Celiac disease patients must avoid gluten from all sources, and more and more patients are being diagnosed with the disease. Many restaurants now offer gluten-free options, so it's an important thing for chefs to be aware of.

As long as the producers spent a minute explaining generally what stuff is gluten-free, that would make a fine (if difficult) challenge.

In the desserts Top Chef show, maybe they'll do a gluten-free challenge. Not using flour AND making it taste super good would be really hard. --Justine

I'd love a gluten free challenge. I've got some friends who are gluten free, but I often forget to cook sans gluten when I make something for our monthly potluck dinners. I think this falls in the "tasty and healthy food is hard to find" category --Liz

1. “Sesame Street” challenge (in honor of their 40th birthday) – draw knives and get a letter. The main component of the dish must begin with that letter. And of course the letters would be harder ones like Q, Z, Y, W, etc.

2. . Avant-garde challenge – cooking version of the Project Runway challenge: make the everyday version of a well-known dish, then make an off-the-wall version that still ties into the everyday dish. This might need to be a two-part challenge where the top finishers of the everyday round go on to the avant garde round.

What would you make with an X? Or could that just be the theme? I can't think of an X food!

I really like the avant-garde idea! The show has some some multi-round quickfires before, but not like that. --Justine

I'd love to see a knife block large enough for 26 knives :) (Just kidding. I know they'd have more that one block to hold all those knives). And the avant garde QF sounds a little like the deconstruction challenge to me. --Liz

Off subject, but Judith Jones (Julia Child's editor) has a great new cookbook out called The Pleasures of Cooking for One. Excellent!

How about make a dinner for 4 in 30 minutes while setting the table and hustling kids out of the kitchen who keep complaining that they need a snack before dinner. Bonus points if they run upstairs to change out of high heels and they empty and reload the dishwasher at the same time. Oh yeah, must be friendly for child picky-eater types and healthy. And must be made entirely with pantry and refrigerator staples.

I don't call it a "quickfire" - I call it my life!

Maybe we could combine the high heels and dishwasher with the Soccer Mom challenge above ... I'm sure more of the audience could relate to that than to a foam. --Justine

I may have to add that cookbook you mentioned to my Christmas list! It sounds wonderful. --Liz

Cheftestant costumes:
CJ - cooking on stilts
Marcel - wolverine wig
Carla - springy hair
Dale (cute gay dale not angry asian dale) - dress like a character from munchkinland
Spike - stupid hat, of course
Stefan - shave your head and have a porky attitude
...etc...

Wolverine wig? The chef should also have to wear claws. --Justine

Can we include Howie and make the cheftestants pronounce things wrong, like "chaaaveeeeechay"? Or be like Richard Blaise and have a faux-hawk? --Liz

Sandwich Challenge!
Judges would have the BEST sandwiches in town delivered from a big brand name franchise (say Quiznos) and the Cheftestants would offer their creation to compare side by side. 30 minutes. Produce, bread, uncooked protein would be varied and plentiful in the TC kitchen. Winner would have sandwich featured at the sandwich shop.

Clever of you to think of the sponsorship/branding/marketing potential that Top Chef seems to take advantage of so well lately. I seem to recall a challenge (maybe Season 1?) when they had to make an awesome sandwich and the winner's dish was on the menu at Chef Tom's Witchcraft restaurant for a while. --Liz

This is only the second season I've followed, so I don't know if they've done this one yet. I would love to see a chocolate challenge! They have to make a dish, other than dessert, where they incorporate the best ingredient on planet Earth...chocolate! Yum!

A few chefs have used chocolate in savory dishes, but it isn't common. I wonder what they'd come up with. --Justine

I don't think there's been chocolate-focused QF yet. I only fear they'd all combine chocolate with bacon somehow. Like Bearded Kevin's candied bacon jam (why hasn't anyone sent me a vat of that stuff yet!?! However I imagine it to be probably isn't as good as the real stuff) but with chocolate. --Liz

I'd like to see a game QF challenge. Or offal.
People like to talk about free range, well game is truly free range.
Wild boar, venison, game birds, etc. are different from their domesticated cousins in their flavor, texture and fat content.
I know some game was used by chefs in elimination challenges but it'll be interesting to see how game would be prepared in a short amount of time.

I'm not sure how an offal challenge will appeal to the viewers at home, but venison and game birds are pretty common fare in much of the country. I'm surprised they haven't done more with it already. (Offal, according to always-accurate Wikipedia, is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal.)

For one of the challenges this season, Michael V. and Jen cooked rabbit. I don't remember any other odd meats recently except perhaps once last season when someone made bison for police officers (I think). --Justine

How about a contest where they must prepare a dish that includes a sauce, but the chefs are not allowed to taste anything while it is being prepared. Sort of like flying blind.

Do you expect chefs to be so good that they can season/make sauces without tasting? I'm not sure I think so, but it might make interesting television. --Justine

It would be your normal 30 minute quick-fire; where the contests draw knives to select a bag of groceries, which the contents are unknown but are limited to 8 items. The contestants will then be able to trade ingredients, but will only be able to use 5 of them. Most bags would contain items for a complete dish, but not all, trading would be required

Sounds kinda like how they had the Macy's potluck party with Tyler Florence and each pair was given a shopping bag of ingredients selected by the guests. I do like giving them the option to trade items. --Liz

I'd really like to see a Maryland-oriented quickfire where the competitors have to create a dish using crabmeat. I don't think we've seen that yet... But FIRST, they have to crack open a couple of steamed crabs and pick the meat they'll cook with!

I'd like to see them have to catch them, too, and Justine says they should have to cook with whatever they get, even if it's a boot. --Liz

Just regarding the offal suggestion I am almost 100% positive they had a offal elimination challenge last season or the season before.

I would presonally like to see a family meal orientated challenge 1 meat 4 vegies deal no foams or the like just simple cooking - it would enrage the smarmy V brother who always has to comment on the how superior his dishes are to the others! Sorry girls I know you like the V boys but can't stand them!

You hate them both, Rebecca? Michael's got his moments, but Bryan's so nice (and dreamy). But yes, I think simple cooking would challenge them to step outside of their comfort zones as much as the deconstruction challenge did for some of them. --Liz

There's not enough Asian flavor on this show- I'm surprised (and appalled) that there seems to be a general ignorance of Asian flavors or dishes. Therefore, I'd like to see two challenges:

1) Make Something Sushi-Style. The idea is to see whether or not the chefs can pull off the things sushi is known for- elegant presentation, great knife skills, and beautiful flavors with an Asian context. There's all sorts of exotic sushi rolls these days, and not necessarily just seafood ones. The point of this is to emphasize an Asian technique.

2) Updated Chinese food. Take something off a Chinese takeout menu- the egg roll, the dumpling, the fried rice, the sweet & sour pork, beef w/ broccoli, shrimp lo mein, noodle soup- and give it a nice little makeover. The idea is essentially a fast food makeover, but with the universal Chinese fast food dishes.

I'm not sure, Alex, about there not being enough Asian flavor. Several of the cheftestants use it (including Michael V. several times this season -- though his dishes weren't sushi rolls -- and last season with Gene, before that with Hung ...)

I do like the Chinese takeout idea, because the Asian influences don't seem to be Chinese, and updating something everybody's familiar with is always an interesting challenge. --Justine

I'm all for a good sushi challenge, even if it's an interpretation of an old classic served sushi-style but not necessarily relying on fish. Like making a dessert sushi. --Liz

I'm with many of the other posters in that I would want the cheftestants to work with things home cooks use every day.

In the mystery basket...how about the ubiquitous chicken breast, we all use them, and I'm always looking for new ways to cook them. It also seems like one of those things at which many chefs would turn up their noses.

As for the other items in the basket: peanut butter, pillsbury croissants, cream of mushroom soup, variety of fresh or frozen fruit and veg...maybe some tatertots...

Can you imagine their faces when they open the basket and find tatertots?

I wonder how many of them would use them, or if it'd start a tatertot fight in the kitchen. In either case, I'd watch. --Justine

I would love to hear the interviews where they say they're too good to use frozen ingredients. There was a canned food challenge a few seasons back and I remember one cheftestant being all elitist and saying she doesn't use canned items. Not all of us can work in a great kitchen with farm-fresh produce all the time. --Liz

I think they should have a comfort food quickfire ---

That might be a little too vague, without the urgency of a typical quickfire. What kinds of foods or restraints would you put on them to make it exciting? --Justine

45 minutes....draw knives with typical comfort foods , 15 minutes for chefs to organize ingredients at thier stations - 30 minute cook time - just prior to cooking -- knives go back in -- chefs re-draw knives -- and must cook comfort foods with ingredients chosen by original chef

The chefs always complain whenever they've had to switch during a challenge and follow through with somebody else's idea. It sounds like you enjoy the drama! --Justine

Here's another idea -- take Kevin's Bacon Jam , remember , everything tastes better with bacon jam , even escargo -- and in 30 minutes , whoever has the best pairing to Bacon Jam -- WINS

Mmm. You had me at bacon jam. --Justine

You're trying to play to the judges and their obsession with the elusive candied bacon jam, aren't you? --Liz

Not only should they have to do a dessert challenge, but it should be sugar-free. They've catered to the vegetarians on the show. They should cater to diabetics, too.

I don't remember them having to worry about sugar much before. I think that would be easier if they're making a savory dish (versus dessert). Good idea. --Justine

I'd like to see the chefs put into a (typical) supermarket deli and each chef have to present 1 meats and 2 or 3 sides for the hot bar using only food and seasonings found in the deli.

I'm not sure how many seasonings typical delis have -- do you think they'd run into a problem with all the food tasting the same? --Justine

Draw knives with the judges' names on them - Padma, Tom, Gail, Toby or other former guest judges. The contestants would have to prepare a dish inspired by the person.

I'd feel bad for the chef who drew Toby's name -- how would you make something obnoxious AND win? --Justine

I got nothing, but I love Top Chef and I really enjoy reading your take on it each week. I would like to see them do a Quickfire involving Bourbon.. Keep up the good work!

Any quickfire with booze is fine by us (especially when they have to flambe like a couple seasons ago). Thanks! --Justine

okay....One last one -- Bottom 3 elimination challenge this week - Eli,Jen and Robin -- Next weeks Quickfire should be Judges Choice -- take one of the bottom three dishes --- tweek it to palatable --- whoever does the best job of it -- WINNER

I did like the challenge where someone went home for cooking a bad quickfire dish (even though the loser ended up being Jesse....poor Baltimore). The tweaking a losing dish is an interesting concept. I would love to see someone tweak Eli's disgusting big top circus circus "soup." --Liz

Utensils down and throw your hands in the air.

Commenting is closed for this Top Chef contest. Justine and I will be back in a bit to name the winners.

Go wait patiently in the stew room while the judges deliberate.

"It's utensils down, hands up!"

And here I thought you were a real Top Chef fan. Tsk, tsk. --Justine