"top chef finale" news and stories

By now, we know "Top Chef" is all about tough questions: "Are you proud of what you cooked?" "Who was really responsible for the disgusting part of your dish?" "Why in God's name did you serve me raw lamb?"

But last night, we got the toughest one yet: "Which son do you like better?... C'mon, you can tell us -- we're just 10 people who are about to critique both of them into oblivion!"

OK, so this exchange didn't really transpire during the finale-of-the-finale of the yearly endurance test that is "Top Chef." But it might as well have. After narrowing the field to no more than three young men, two of whom share a last name and some DNA -- if not, shall we say, similar outlooks on life -- the show's producers decided upon one last master plan to mess with their cheftestants' minds: Bring Your Mom to Final Elimination Challenge Day.

"This meal can make your career," Tom helpfully told us at the beginning of the show. So why on earth would you try to throw these three talented chefs off of their game by stirring up such desperate, maternal feelings? Why would you ask them to make an extra course inspired by a dish mom used to make, and then ask said parent to judge the results?

Inspired by the bacon ice cream presented on last night's Top Chef, we're bumping this older post back to the top.

Deliciously demented maestro of molecular gastronomy Heston Blumenthal (chef & owner of the massively Michelin-starred UK restaurant The Fat Duck) shares his signature Bacon & Egg Ice Cream technique and recipe.

Nab our Pecan-Brown Sugar & Bacon Ice Cream recipe (from Joanna Pruess's Seduced By Bacon)

AOL Food's Top 11 Bacon Fantasies