Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
Season:
Week:
Elimination Challenge
The chefs were randomly assigned one of thirteen different cheeses. They were then asked to make dishes featuring their designated cheeses for a Top Chef cheese festival. The dishes were served to the judging panel and one hundred festival guests. The guests' votes determined the top dishes and winner of the challenge, while the judges selected the bottom dishes. The winner received immunity for the next Elimination Challenge. The guest judges were Carla Hall and chef Dane Baldwin.
Kristen Kish: "All right, chefs, for your elimination challenge, you will each be responsible for creating one dish featuring one of these incredible cheeses. Carla and I will join Tom and Gail, along with local chef and James Beard award winner Dane Baldwin and 100 cheese loving diners."
Note - 50% of the chefs decided to cook some version of a cheese croquette. In her affiliated TV show, "A Dish with Kish ™", Kristen Kish dedicated an episode to the Cheese Croquette. See our recipe and her commentary here.
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Dishes prepared in
Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
Chef Charly: "I've got yuca (cassava) boiling in here. I'm going to make some yuca croquettes. It's going to be good. When I'm thinking about how to serve 100 people, well, croquette's pretty easy and awesome because you fry them, which means that every few minutes, people are getting fresh croquettes."
Chef Charly (presenting to judges): "So I made these yuca croquettes filled with the canela cheese. And then we have a tomato mango sauce on the side. Canela has a honey note to it that I think works really well with the fruitiness of the mango and the tomato sauce."
Chef Manny: " lived in ten different cities, but I have never lived in the midwest. I only know two dishes with cheese curds, poutine, and fried cheese curds. So I go with poutine with a potato croquette, cheese curds, and scallions. Good old pork fat."
Chef Manny (during prep): "I'm going to put the cheese on top. I don't want the croquettes to be gooey. I want to be able to fry them without them falling apart. I'm going to press them in between two sheet trays, and I'm going to let them cool down overnight, and cut them tomorrow, bread them, and fry them."
Chef Manny (presenting to judges): "We have a potato croquette, cheese curds, and beer gravy.
Kirsten Kish: "So there's no cheese curd in the potato?"
Chef Manny: "No, there's no cheese curd in the potatoes. Instead of having french fries with curds and gravy, I'm having potato croquette.
Chef Alisha: "I'm going to do a traditional spanish croquette with some smoked pork."
Chef Alisha (during prep): "I got brick cheese. So I'm doing a play on a ham and cheese sandwich."
Tom Colicchio: "When was the last time you made a croquette?"
Chef Alisha: "I make them all the time. I feel pretty confident in this dish. I mean, my cuisine is spanish food."
Tom Colicchio (laughing): "Okay, so you're making coquetto. okay."
Chef Alisha: "My culinary style is definitely inspired by coastal spanish food, but I live in the midwest. Nowhere near an ocean. Of course, the first time I feel like I can really represent myself, everyone else is doing the same thing."
Chef Alisha (presenting to judges): "The rind of this lovely cheese is actually washed in Merlot. My dish is ham and brick cheese croquettes with a sherry aioli."
Chef Kaleena: "I pulled a merlot bellavatano. It seems like it's going to have that beautiful melt that a cheddar does, but it has a much bolder, complex flavor. I feel like I got the best of both worlds with this cheese."
Chef Kaleena (during prep): "Don't judge my store-bought pasta, please. I'm cooking for 100 people. This is not the challenge where you're going to make a pasta from scratch. This is the challenge where you're going to highlight the cheese and get the job done. Not so much Mac and cheese. More like a play on Alfredo."
Chef Kaleena: (presenting to judges): "I thought everyone was going to be doing macaroni and cheeses, and then somehow I'm the only one. I used the BellaVitano in it. I wanted to bring out the flavors of the rind of the cheese, so I braised some mushrooms and some aromatics and merlot."
Chef Amanda: "I'm making some raclette aroncini. There's Mornay inside the aroncini, and then on the bottom is a Mornay and Dijon sauce and a little bit of fig and olive."
Chef Kevin: "So you have a sauce mornay with diced ham, chives, and on the top, you have a truffle paste made with mushroom and truffle."
Kristen Kish: "What was the breading? Just three step breading?"
Chef Kevin: "Yeah."
Tom Colicchio: "Why did you want to make a croquette with the cheese?"
Chef Kevin: :"Because for me it's the creaminess of the cheese. I just wanted to make melted croquette with truffle."
Chef Savannah (presenting to judges): "When I got Oaxaca cheese, my first thought was quesadilla, so I just kind of leaned straight into that. I have a white hominy tortilla made from scratch and cooked to order with a whipped avocado and hatch chili."
Chef Laura: "I picked Gouda. It's amazing. It's very nutty. Lots of crystals in it, so it's delicious. And I think it's perfect with the croquettes."
Chef Laura (presenting to judges): "I picked this beautiful Gouda Reserve that's been aged. I'm using the idea of a moustarda potato."
Chef Rasika: "I got the Dunbarton Bleu, and it's not a traditional blue cheese. It has more cheddar notes in it, and it's nutty. The first nut that popped into my head is hazelnut."
Chef Rasika: "I grabbed chicken thighs for cheese and rice cakes with a chicken gravy. There's a South Indian rice cake called paniyaram. Basically, it's a fermented rice batter. This batter takes two days for fermentation, but I'm trying to push it for 2 hours."
Chef Rasika (presenting to judges): "I had the Dunbarton bleu cheese. It's a cheddar blue. So I did rice cake. It's called a panyarum. I folded the cheese in the batter of the rice cake. I made a braised chicken thigh korma."
Chef Danny (presenting to judges): "I made Cheddar fritter with a cheddar lime mornay, and then the outside is a cheddar lime foam. I just try to highlight the cheese as best I could."
Kristen Kish: "Pâte a Choux and then cheddar inside?"
Chef Danny: "Exactly."
Chef Dan (presenting to the judges): "I was lucky enough to get a cheese from Door County, Wisconsin. It's Sancho Cruz, Manchego. I'm doing this with some potato dumplings. I've aerated the cheese and olive and charred scallion sauce, and then finish it off with some fried potatoes."
Chef Kenny: "I've got a little ponzu going with my crab. It's going to be a little crab salad. We're going to be serving in 100 degrees, so instead of doing another deep fried option with everyone else, I'm going to flip this crab rangoon on its head and make a salad with it."
"Normally, I use cream cheese, but this really creamy gorgonzola is going to go really well with this sweet crab."
Tom Colicchio: "Hey, Kenny, what are you working on there?"
Chef Kenny (during prep): "Light little maraschino cherry relish to go with my gorgonzola crab rangoon."
Tom Colicchio: "So what are you doing with the gorgonzola?"
Kenny: "I have made a creme out of it and made a little crab salad. I grew up eating crab rangoons, so gorgonzola feels a little more familiar to me."
Chef Kenny (presenting to judges): "Today I prepared a crab rangoon salad with a gorgonzola creme fraiche crema, little luxardo cherry relish, and chili hibiscus flake on a rice paper chip."
Chef Michelle: "I'm going to do a play on sag paneer. Kind of a coconut curry. Collard greens. I do not cook a lot of indian food. I do cook a lot of southern food. Sag paneer typically uses paneer cheese and spinach. I've decided to go with collard greens. It really just speaks to who I am. "
Chef Michelle (presenting to the judges): "I picked Pleasant Ridge reserve cheese today, and I did a take on a sag paneer for the coconut curry gravy. I have collard greens in there. The fritter is made of potato, more cheese, a little bit of curry, and cilantro."
Culinary Challenges inspired by
Top Chef ™: Wisconsin
Soba Cha (also known as Soba-Cha and Sobacha) is Japanese buckwheat tea. It is drunk hot or cold, and is gluten-free and caffeine-free and apparently tastes nutty and slightly sweet.
It appeared three times in Top Chef: Wisconsin ™. The first showing was in Restaurant Wars when Danny's team, under his leadership, served up cold Soba Cha as a welcome drink. It wasn't well received.
In reparation, Danny re-introduced it in week 12 when he infused mushrooms into Soba Cha for his fish dish. This time, the judges regretted that he had buried the flavor of the buckwheat tea in very powerful mushroom flavors and would have preferred the essence of the tea to shine through.
Danny didn't try again, but Dan used Soba Cha in his Smoked Dashi and this time it went down a storm.
Hummingbird cake is a Jamaican banana and pineapple spiced cake which has been eaten in the southern United States since the 1970s. It is a leavened cake with a salty cake and often contains pecans.
Mofongo is a Caribbean dish originating in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Made by mashing ripe plantains with fat, garlic, spices, and (optionally) pork crackling, it is then shaped into a ball. The dish is famous for its complex and contrasting textures, with fried plantains that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It is often found topped with melted cheese and served with a clear garlic broth.
Danny, in the 'spoiler' for the Top Chef Wisconsin Finale, was heard to say that he wanted to get fresh scallops for his first course and treat them in the style of "Leche de Tigre".
Leche de tigre, (translates to tiger's milk), is the Peruvian term for a citrus marinade that cures fish or seafood. Also known as leche de pantera, this marinade usually contains lime juice, onion, chile, and fish sauce.
In the semi-finals of Top Chef Wisconsin ™ we saw Chef Danny out shopping in the Curacao markets and finding 'quenepas' which we heard he had eaten as a child.
Quenepa, also known as Spanish lime, mamoncillo, or limoncillo, is a tropical fruit native to the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of South America. It is a small, green fruit with a thin, leathery skin and a tart, juicy pulp surrounding a large seed. It isn't so tart that it is inedible and children often suck the juice and pulp, but it needs careful balancing in cooking.
Kewpie Mayonnaise is known for its richness, and has a tangy, savory "umami" character which sets it well above traditional store-bought. It is made using only the yolks of egg and typically uses rice wine vinegar. It has a rich creamy texture. We saw Chef Dan using it in his lionfish dish on the semi-final episode of Top Chef Wisconsin.
Frico is an Italian preparation which originates in times of hardship when cheese rinds could not be wasted. It is basically melted cheese which can be combined with seeds, spices, herbs, potato or grains and then cooked to any required degree of crispness.
Five spice (5-spice) powder is used really heavily in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine and reflects the five elements - fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. These elements are mirrored in 5
tastes (sweet, sour, salty, savory and bitter). There is a wider spice mix (13 spice) which is less frequently seen but equally magnificent.
There is some small variation in the exact five spices but most often we see fennel, cinnamon, star anise, Szechuan pepper and cloves. A fabulous version of this spice is available here.
The lionfish, an invasive species in many parts of the world, is gaining popularity in the culinary scene. Recognized for its striking appearance with vibrant stripes and venomous spines, the lionfish is surprisingly delicious and sustainable.
Its white, flaky meat is mild and tender, making it versatile for various cooking methods. Chefs often prepare lionfish as ceviche, grilled, or pan-seared, accentuating its delicate flavor with citrus, herbs, and spices. By incorporating lionfish into dishes, chefs contribute to controlling its population, which threatens marine ecosystems.
Paliamento is one of three languages spoken in Curacao. The others are English and Dutch. Keshi Yená is a Paliamento term for 'melting pot' and the dish is usually served as a parcel of rich Gouda (or Edam) cheese which, when cut open, reveals any combination of meat (usually chicken), vegetables and seasoning. Capers are often used, and soy sauce, curry and dried fruits feature heavily, too.
In the semi-finals of Top Chef Wisconsin, the four remaining chefs were asked to make a "Keshi Yena" out of lionfish and Gouda.
Increasingly, we see chefs deliberately burning food because, when handled well, the impact on the flavor can be positive, not negative.
In Top Chef: Wisconsin ™, in the last round before moving to the Caribbean Cruise for the finals, Savannah won the Elimination round with a dish that used a jam/chutney of burnt onions and cherries.
Onions can be eaten raw, or gently cooked, or deeply caramelized, and now burned black. The onions should be treated with respect and removed from the heat as soon as they are 'beyond caramelized' but before they turn to miserable ash. Catch them at the right time and they really do bring a beautiful flavor to a dish. Try it out sometime. It's my belief that the burnt onions need combining with a strong accessory like anchovies, or eggplant, which is why Savannah's jam was so remarkably good.
Escabeche is the name for a food treatment, found in Southern Europe and Latin America, that involves fish or chicken (and occasionally other meats and vegetables). The fish (etc.) is fried then cooled and pickled in an acidic sauce, and flavored, typically with paprika and/or garlic. Chefs work to balance the acid with the other elements of the dish.
Like its distant relative ceviche, escabeche often involves seafood and an acid, but the similarities end there. Escabeche is served cold.
In Top Chef Wisconsin ™, Laura was praised for the balance of her Mussel Escabeche.
