In Top Chef Texas episode 6, Dean Fearing rules

by Teresa Gubbins

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Show also makes obligatory trip to SouthFork Ranch.

DALLAS — It was Dallas Round 2 of Top Chef Texas wherein Dean Fearing proved to the world that the city of Dallas knows its sauces. We also got to revisit one of our most beloved local myths, i.e., the idea that we all hang out at SouthFork Ranch and talk about Who Shot J.R.

The show opened in their plush suite at the W Hotel before everyone piled into their awesome Toyotas which feel like butter when you drive them, and on up to the kitchens of the Le Cordon Bleu Institute, which Padma went out of her way to say would be the headquarters while in Dallas. Guess that means they didn't have to pay the Cordon Bleu any rent?

Dean got saucy during the quickfire, when the 13 remaining chef-testants were assigned to do a special twist on one of the five classic "Mother" sauces: bechamel, veloute, Hollandaise, espagnole, and tomate. "It's the item that gives the WOW in a dish," said the classically-trained Fearing -- classically trained meaning not that he knows how to play the cello but that he could tell whether the contestants used clarified butter in their sauces, which none of them did.

They headed to SouthFork for the elimination challenge, where they had to prepare a four-course dinner starring steak for the annual Cattle Baron's Ball. Manly Ty-Lor worked in a steakhouse for two years, so he took on the rib eye; slitty-eyed Chris did the sirloin. A bunch of the girls did the appetizers and dessert.

The episode wouldn't have had a teaspoon of drama if not for Ty-Lor, who cut his hand so badly that it required stitches, and then heroically worked through it in 112-degree heat over a hot grill with a bandanna tied around his head. The accident was even caught on camera, with a juicy closeup of him poking his knife through a bone to extract valuable marrow and then BLOODWORKS! The episode really needed a couple of slow-mo replays, because that part was awesome. So convenient that the camera was there, too.

Dean helped judge, and he showed in a very graceful way that he has an awesome palate while simultaneously remaining charitable and sympathetic towards the contestants. Sauce prevailed as the theme right to the end, with the winning dish being the cakecompound butter. Yum! Who doesn't love compound butter? Ty-Lor took responsibility for the steaks, even though it was the blonde girl who ruined them, and so the judges let him fly, instead sending home Whitney, who served a potato gratin that was raw.

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