Given those seafood missteps, Murphy turned out a very respectable crab cake, moist and cleverly sparked with a garnish of pickled jalapeños. A salmon Wellington was another retro surprise, with layers of moist pink fish, tangy tomato and spinach encased in a flaky puff pastry hot pocket over lemongrass cream.
Time also turned out a trio of appealingly whiskeyed updates to some classic American desserts - a rich bourbon pecan pie with butterscotch ice cream; a brownie sundae with whiskey sabayon; and a banana split terrine layered with chocolate ganache, peanut butter and banana mousses with bourbon-soaked cherries.