Top Chef ™
Season:
Week:
Tatemado

Tatemado is a traditional Mexican cooking technique most commonly associated with Jalisco cuisine. This slow-cooking method involves placing ingredients—typically meat such as pork, goat, or beef—into clay pots that are partially buried in hot coals or placed in an underground pit oven. The pots are sealed with masa (corn dough) to trap moisture and smoke, allowing the meat to cook gently for several hours until incredibly tender. This process imparts a distinctive earthy flavor while preserving the meat's natural juices.
Tatemado dishes are often seasoned with regional spices, chiles, and herbs, creating complex flavor profiles that showcase Mexico's rich culinary heritage. The result is meltingly tender meat with unparalleled depth of flavor.
Recipes inspired by Top Chef ™
Equipment useful for Top Chef ™ recipes
About Top Chef ™
Top Chef ™ is an American reality competition television series which has run since March 2006. The show features professional chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges.
The Top Chef ™ chef-contestants are judged by a counsel of exemplary, world-renowned professional chefs and famous names from the food and wine industry.
The contestants are superb, professional chefs with a huge array of global food skills.
The show is progressive, eliminating one or two chefs each week. Each episode follows a consistent theme with (usually) a Quickfire challenge (short and fun) followed by a more difficult "Elimination Challenge" that is much more intense. The Top Chef ™ Judges Table is where the winners and losers are determined each week.