KRISTEN: Previously, on Top Chef...
We want to see what you can do
with these bitter hops.
AMANDA: Smells like weed.
Woo!
The chef that showcased the hops in the best way...
- Laura. - I can't believe it.
With bar snacks, if we're trying to do something
that's true to yourself, but we're also in a team challenge,
then everybody has to acquiesce a little bit.
As soon as I get my corn on to steep,
I'll have hands to help.
Is it a soup? Is it a sauce? It's more of a sauce.
I'm making a honey mustard sabayon.
I like the fact she took some huge risk here, and it paid off.
I've never had anything like that before.
That sh--'s crazy good.
The winning chef today is...
- Rasika. - [all cheering]
You just won immunity
in the next Elimination Challenge.
Kevin, Charly, and Valentine,
you three had our least favorite dishes on your team.
Valentine, please pack your knives, and go.
13 chefs remain to compete
in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winner,
A feature in Food & Wine magazine,
an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
$250,000 furnished by Saratoga Spring Water,
and the title of Top Chef.
***
- Today sucks. - It's real.
CHARLY: It's hard to talk right now,
but being up there, it's just, like,
the worst feeling, man.
It's really hard, man.
I can't lie. [sniffles]
KEVIN: Now is just, like, the time to rebound, like,
to put our thing together, and just thinking of our dish,
like, focus on what it is, like, deep flavor, seasoning.
Here at Top Chef America, I feel like it's way harder
than Top Chef France, for sure.
I need to focus.
You both deserve to be here.
I'm going to put this behind me.
I'm here for this $250,000, and that's what matters.
***
RASIKA: You do have a classic runner's bod.
[Rasika laughs]
Rasika and I started the Top Chef 21 Run Club.
Running started for me when I was working
with the Bocuse d'Or, and French Laundry.
Like, let me sign up for a half marathon.
It was good to do a team challenge, right?
To see how everyone cooks a little bit better.
You're $10,000 richer, too, like...
- [laughs] - ...you're ready to go.
When I run, I'm able to think things through
and have a mental, just clarity.
My goal is to have that same mindset
towards this competition.
Before we can do anything,
just gotta get all the braces on.
Doing Top Chef now is something that's so important to me,
because I feel like I want to prove something.
One of my main reasons for coming on this show
was because I wanted to be able to educate people
on Kennedy's disease, and some of the things that I go through.
I do feel a bit of a weight lifted,
sharing with everybody.
I think it helps the other chefs understand
where I'm coming from.
Sometimes I'm going to have difficulties.
I'm not going to run around the kitchen
like the rest of these young bucks.
***
KENNY: Whoa, what is that? What is going on?
CHARLY: Little cherries.
- KENNY: Are those doors? - DANNY: What does that mean?
- What the hell? - My question every day.
These doors are freaking me out.
Anything can be behind those doors.
I would like to welcome through that door,
your guest judges: Top Chef All Star, Carla Hall,
actor, writer, director,
- Clea DuVall. - [all] Hello.
- [laughter] - Wow.
I did watch, but I'm a cheerleader.
When I was first, you know, realizing that I am queer,
and then, Carla.
- You all look amazing. - CLEA: Hi, Chefs.
I am a massive, massive Top Chef fan,
so to be here with all of you, it really is a dream come true.
It's been a minute
since I've been in the Top Chef kitchen.
[Carla screams] What possessed me?
10, 11, 12-- aah! I need a bowl.
I am so honored, and so excited, to taste your food.
All right, Chefs, are you ready to find out
what's behind these little doors?
- ALL: Ooh! - Let's see.
Just three hours north of Milwaukee is a place called,
- Door County. - Doors.
The quaint coastal towns of this part of Wisconsin
are known for their scenic views,
and these cherries.
So, for your next Quickfire Challenge,
we want to see what you can do with Door County cherries,
paired with some unexpected ingredients.
[all exclaiming]
Behind these little tiny doors are mystery ingredients
that you'll have to incorporate
into your dishes with the cherries.
Rasika, as the winner of the last Elimination Challenge,
you get to choose your door first.
- Oh! Okay. - MANNY: Go!
I'm going to go with the big red door.
CLEA: Oh, wow.
RASIKA: Oh! [laughs]
KRISTEN: Cipollini onions.
Which chef gets to choose next?
- Danny. - Chef, thank you.
SAVANNAH: All right, gym buddies.
[laughter]
It's a social experiment. No one wants to be picked last.
- KRISTEN: What is it? - It's bamboo shoots.
Cool. Love it.
KRISTEN: Who goes next?
- Let's go, Amanda. - Yay.
- AMANDA: [laughs] That's good. - I love yellow mustard.
- Michelle. - All right.
- Parsnips? - KRISTEN: No.
- No? Horseradish? - Ginseng.
- Oh, ginseng. - CARLA: Oh.
AMANDA: Charly.
Oh, Charly.
Cherries and chocolate. I mean... [laughs]
chocolate and cherry is a little too easy.
I want to go outside the box a little bit.
This one looks like the door of my house.
CLEA: Marshmallows.
KENNY: I don't love marshmallows.
Okay.
Who just, like, likes marshmallows?
Unless you're, like, four-years-old, and camping.
DAN: Oh! Kimchi. [laughs]
KEVIN: Black garlic.
- SAVANNAH: Oh no! - KEVIN: Liver?
- What is it? - Chicken livers. Yeah.
I specialize in Japanese cuisine,
and chicken livers are not my wheelhouse.
- I would love chicken liver. - Oh, my God.
Kaleena.
KALEENA: Pink salmon.
Laura.
LAURA: Condensed milk.
Oh, serrano.
Sweet and spicy? Hmm.
KRISTEN: All right, Manny.
I think Manny was picked last
because people see him as a really good competitor.
- Soy sauce. - That's a good one.
[all laughing]
- All right, to your relief. - It's not liver.
The winner of this Quickfire Challenge
will receive $5,000.
- Woo. - Yeah.
We're expecting to see some cherry good dishes.
[all exclaiming in agreement]
Chefs, you have 30 minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now.
Go, go!
CHARLY: Where are the sweet cherries? Cherries...
[Kevin chuckles]
These Bing cherries are my favorite.
- Excited to get those peppers? - Yeah, I love sweet and spicy.
I'm going to do a grilled cabbage,
and then I'm gonna make like, a spicy jam
with the cherries, and the serranos.
RASIKA: Everything is a situation right now.
The Door County cherries taste supreme.
I grabbed some Montmorency,
and I grabbed some dried Balaton,
I think that's what it's called.
The Balaton cherries are semi-sweet,
and then the Montmorency are more tart.
I'm going to do like, a cipollini
cooked in cherry juice situation.
I want to just use those two things
so I can highlight both ingredients the best that I can.
My game plan is to peel these. Keep it all veg for this.
All right, all right, almost there. Almost there.
KALEENA: So I got the semi-tart cherries,
and the Bing cherries.
I can do salmon, but I'm not thrilled about
pairing this with cherries.
I think I'm gonna use one to make a sauce,
and one to mix with the salmon.
-DAN: These are not pitted. - ALISHA: Oh, yeah. No, no.
It's too time-consuming to pit cherries.
This is so annoying.
[Manny whimpers] Buddy.
CHARLY: Manny, what you got going on?
I'm pitting ----ing cherries.
CHARLY: Pitting ----ing cherries. Heard that.
It feels like it's taking a lot of time.
[tense music playing]
MANNY: Oh, sh--.
MICHELLE: Freaking look like a murder scene
on my cutting board.
You have 20 minutes remaining.
You feeling good about your dish, there?
Yeah, I'm going to do a cherry gastrique,
with a skirt steak, with a bamboo shoot,
cherry gremolata.
Hopefully I have enough time to get it all done.
I think I might go Asian flavors.
But I've never used fresh ginseng. It's bitter.
I am really thrown by this ginseng.
Tea is the only thing that I can think of to use it as.
I think I'm going to make a broth of cherries and ginseng.
I have no idea if this will work.
I just put some soy sauce, and I'm going to roast
a pork belly, and a little prayer.
Mr. Wisconsin, did you cook with cherry before?
[laughs] I mean, yeah, usually dessert.
I do cook with kimchi often, but it's just so funky
that I'm not sure it's going to go with the cherry.
KEVIN: So, I'm making beef tenderloin with, like,
a roasted cherry and basil oil,
- and black garlic. - Sounds great.
Black garlic is really intense, long flavor,
and it's just going to make, like, a roundness with my basil.
I'm pretty confident about this dish.
RASIKA: Are you making, like, a pâté situation, Savannah?
I think I'm going to do that, but I don't want
to just give it to them on bread,
because that's what they are expecting.
I'm going to use it on the bottom of a plate,
- like-- - RASIKA: Mousse situation.
When I went to culinary school,
I had an internship.
I worked for a Master Chef of France.
So, I do have a little bit of French background.
Chicken livers sautéing. Can you overcook them?
KALEENA: Yes, you can. Go more mid-rare.
15 minutes, Chefs.
I got very sweet ingredients,
and I do want to highlight both, because that's the challenge.
So I'm doing ice cream and cherries.
RASIKA: Cool. Sounds great.
Do you have a lot of experience with cherries?
I used to go to a cherry farm
every fall with my family, and pick cherries.
I love cherries.
We used to eat it until our mouths were red.
I just don't know what to do with the marshmallows.
I hate it. I got cotton mouth.
Just about eight minutes, 30 seconds.
CHARLY: Time is flying. I'm making a chocolate demi.
Got our charred beets going on, on the grill.
I have a lot of tricks, but my favorite things
are putting flavors together people don't expect.
I know that beets have a heavy, deep, earthy flavor.
Oh, yeah. Beautiful, beautiful.
And that's going to work well with chocolate and cherries.
DANNY: The long ones down low.
You don't want to lose your hand.
- I like the burn. - Okay. Take it, girl.
- Do you. - It makes me feel alive.
Charring my cabbage, I...
Probably should have cut the pieces smaller,
but I don't want them to fall apart on the grill.
My plan is to put it in a hotel pan and steam it,
so it can carry over.
***
Chefs, you have five minutes left.
LAURA: I have my ice cream ready.
- Tasting good. - She made an ice cream?
MICHELLE: Oh, that's good.
I need a pinch of salt,
but I think I'm going to finish with salt.
CHARLY: I'm just slicing some charred beets.
I'd like a little less bite to them,
but we're going to make it do.
ALISHA: I wish I had, like, five more minutes.
RASIKA: This is my relish.
There's dry cherries. There's fresh cherries.
Ooh. That is actually good.
SAVANNAH: I don't think it's the color I want it to be.
My chicken liver mousse is...
not a mousse, it's a sauce.
I did want it to be chilled down and set,
but there's nothing I can do about it now.
Winning $5,000 would be the cherry on top
of this little dish, here.
DANNY: Kevin, you feel good over there?
I feel very good over there.
- KRISTEN: Ten seconds! - DAN: Oh, boy.
Five, four,
three, two, one.
Utensils down, and hands are up.
Amanda, come on up.
I did pork tenderloin.
On the very bottom is a cherry and mustard mostarda.
Did it come together in the way you hoped it would?
That's a loaded question.
[laughter]
***
Here you go.
I had chicken livers. I basically made a quick mousse.
There is a panzanella salad with shishitos.
And then I made a vinaigrette using the Bing cherries.
CARLA: How did you build your mousse?
I sautéed onions and cherry with the livers.
- What do you have? - Cipollini onions
cooked in tart cherry juice,
charred pepper relish, and berbere spice.
Were you worried that the amount of spice
was going to cover up the cherries?
The dried cherries that I used
are pretty sweet.
I made a Montmorency-infused condensed milk ice cream,
with some tart cherry syrup on the side,
and a little bit of pepper, to bring the warmth
- of the spices out. - Great.
I have a soy-marinated roasted pork belly,
with sautéed cherries and pickled cherries.
I hope you cherish it as much as I did.
- Good one. - [laughter]
CLEA: Thank you. Oh.
I've made for you a cherry and salmon croquette.
On the bottom,
I used the tart cherries to do a cream.
What we have here is charred golden beets,
chocolate cherry demi, smashed purple potatoes,
and pickled cherries, as well.
Have you ever done beets and chocolate before?
Never.
My first thought was s'mores, Rice Krispies.
So I did a little rum and cherry sauce,
toasted the marshmallows, fried some spring roll paper.
You were not excited about the marshmallows.
How do you feel about them now?
- Same. I hate marshmallows. - [laughter]
CARLA: If we like this, are you going to yuck our yum?
No, I'm going to be so happy. I'm going to go back over there.
[laughter]
Today I made a cherry and ginseng broth
with charred shrimp, and bok choy.
KRISTEN: And the first time using ginseng?
Yeah, we don't barbecue a lot of ginseng.
I made you today a beef tenderloin with,
like, a poêlé of cherry, finish it with the black garlic.
- KRISTEN: Did you say a poêlé? - How I translate that?
- Should I know what it is? - Like, sautéed,
- like, things together. - Oh, who knew? I didn't.
[laughter]
Thank you, that's so pretty.
I have grilled skirt steak, with a bamboo shoot
and cherry gremolata, and then a cherry gastrique.
I have a kimchi pancake,
with kimchi, semi-sweet cherries,
and then, Bing cherry hoisin.
I made charred cabbage with a cherry serrano reduction,
and a little bit of lime, and anchovy butter.
What made you choose cabbage? Like, cherries, cabbage!
I saw everybody else going for meat,
and I thought, why not do vegetables?
[dramatic music playing]
KRISTEN: Carla and Clea, how do you think our chefs
did with this challenge?
- CARLA: They did well. - Yeah. I had a lot
of really wonderful bites of food today.
Great job, everybody.
But there were a few that were...
less successful than the others.
Charly, the earthiness, and the texture of the beets
did not pair well with the chocolate, and the cherry.
I think you needed a bridge to meet those two.
KRISTEN: Clea, who else had one of our least favorites?
Kenny.
The sweetness of marshmallow
and the tartness of the cherry
never really came together to become something new.
It just felt a little disjointed.
Alisha, your cabbage was undercooked.
Cutting the cabbage just a little bit smaller
would have been helpful.
And now it's time for some good news.
Clea, who had one of our favorite
dishes of the day?
Savannah, the chicken liver and the cherries
just really came together in a beautiful way.
Thank you so much.
- Rasika. - Oh.
You balanced the different cherries really well,
and the acid really brought everything up.
Thank you, Chef, thank you.
We really enjoyed Kevin's.
Having those tart cherries really brought everything alive.
Thank you so much.
But we did have one winner.
The winning chef gave us a beautiful dish
that highlighted their cherries
and their mystery ingredient perfectly.
And that chef is...
- Rasika. - [cheering, applause]
Two in a row?
My jaw is on the floor. [laughs]
A second win?
- Thank you. - You just won yourself
$5,000 in Quickfire Quick Cash.
Ah!
You do have immunity from the last challenge.
The last challenge, yeah.
Wow. Rasika. Wow.
I definitely feel like
the others are looking at me now.
And, Clea, I just want to thank you for joining us today.
You all did such a beautiful job.
Thank you so much for having me.
KRISTEN: All right, Chefs,
I think it's time we take it cheesy.
Oh, finally.
***
There's something Wisconsinites can't live without.
- Cheese. - [chefs laugh]
Two of the state's top cheesemakers
are here with us today.
[chefs exclaim]
Yes.
KRISTEN: Nothing screams Wisconsin
like a buffet of cheese.
That's so rad. I love cheese.
It's ooey, it's gooey, it's stringy.
Everything you want it to be.
Please welcome award-winning cheesemakers, Andy Hatch...
- Hi, Chefs. - KRISTEN: ...and Pam Hodgson.
Thanks for having us here today.
Pam is a Master Cheesemaker at Sartori Cheese.
She's only one of two women in the country
to have the title, Master Cheesemaker.
Wow.
- Master Cheesemaker. Yes. - It's amazing.
In Wisconsin, we take dairy very seriously.
KRISTEN: And Andy is a world-renowned
cheesemaker at Uplands Cheese.
There's our flagship cheese right in the middle.
- Pleasant Ridge Reserve. - KRISTEN: That cheese, I hear,
happens to be the most awarded cheese
in American history.
- That's what they say. - Wow.
All right, Chefs, for your Elimination Challenge,
you will each be responsible for creating one dish
featuring one of these incredible cheeses.
- Heck, yeah. - KRISTEN: Tomorrow, Carla and I
will join Tom and Gail, along with local chef
and James Beard Award winner, Dane Baldwin.
And 100 cheese-loving diners.
Mm. Okay.
At the first-ever Top Chef Cheese Festival.
- Oh. - Ooh!
DAN: Milwaukee has Summerfest,
Festa Italiana, Fiesta Mexicana, German Fest.
The list goes on and on,
yet somehow we've missed a cheese fest.
So, thanks, Top Chef,
for making that happen.
All right, Chefs. It's time to draw knives.
Woo-hoo. Yes.
KEVIN: Ho-ho!
Anyone really excited for their cheese?
15 Year Cheddar sounds pretty dope.
- KRISTEN: Yeah. Classy. - DANNY: Yeah.
Triple Cream Brie for French.
- Yes! - [all laugh]
Of course, the Frenchie with the brie.
KRISTEN: Like a magnet to that French cheese.
Yeah, I'm happy.
You guys can come up and taste the cheese,
so you have an idea of what you're working with.
- It's really good. - It's not as blue cheese-y.
I got the Dunbarton Blue,
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.
I got the Gouda Reserve. It's so good.
MANNY: I'm so jealous you got the Oaxaca.
SAVANNAH: This is my favorite.
I would have felt a lot more comfortable
with the Oaxaca cheese than the cheese curds.
I guess it's just a matter of experience.
How long is this aged?
KALEENA: I pulled the Merlot BellaVitano.
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 kind of got the best
of both worlds with this cheese.
Chefs, we're not the only judges
for this challenge.
The crowd favorite will be crowned the winner,
and receive immunity in the next Elimination Challenge.
Cook for the people.
And as the judges, we'll determine
the three least favorite chefs.
You got to find a balance between showing off your chops,
and showing off the cheese.
Good luck. We'll see you tomorrow.
MANNY: See you tomorrow, Chef. Vámonos.
[dramatic music playing]
Comin' around.
RASIKA: I'm looking for spices.
[Laura exclaims]
I'm going to do a whipped avocado
for a Oaxacan Cheese quesadilla.
- Everybody likes a quesadilla. - [Kevin counting in French] .
I'm going to do potato dumplings with my cheese.
I'm gonna turn the cheese into a little bit of a mousse.
Oh, jeez. Throwing potatoes on the ground.
Everybody and their mama down this aisle.
RASIKA: So, I'm grabbing 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 two hours. [laughs]
What are you making?
I'm going to do, like, a cheesy pasta.
DAN: Oh, okay.
Hey, hey, don't get any ideas.
MANNY: I left Mexico 14 years ago.
I have 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'd go with poutine, with a potato croquette,
cheese curds, and scallions.
Good old pork fat. [laughs]
I'm going to do, like, a traditional Spanish croquette
with, uh, some smoked pork.
I just need to have, like, the croquette
in my head right now.
CHARLY: A lot of people are doing potatoes.
ALISHA: Making croquettes, potato croquettes.
- How about you? - I'm doing croquettes, too.
Just like half of us.
Suddenly, it turned into the Top Chef Croquette Fest,
and I'm happy to not be a part of it.
Croquette.
SAVANNAH: 15 minutes.
MICHELLE: I'm going to do a play on a saag 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.
Saag paneer typically uses paneer cheese and spinach.
I've decided to go with collard greens.
It really just speaks to who I am.
- I need collard greens. - CHARLY: Right here.
Oh, she got some more? Oh, my girl, high five.
Listen, I hope the good people of Milwaukee
ain't trying to cook collard greens tonight,
because I cleared Whole Foods
of all their collard greens.
[laughs] What?
I found everything I need.
- LAURA: It's a lot of food. - KEVIN: So, 250?
Et voilà.
[upbeat music playing]
Yeah.
Ooh!
Is this how you envisioned the first cheese challenge?
MICHELLE: I don't know what I envisioned, girl.
We really got to try to play to the audience.
MICHELLE: You're very charismatic,
so I feel like it'll go well.
No one can resist your beautiful laugh.
[Amanda laughs]
People tell me I sound like Daria.
[Amanda laughs]
I don't know why that's funny.
KENNY: Got a little ponzu going with my crab.
It's going to be my little crab salad.
Tomorrow is going to be 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 the sweet crab.
What do you got going on with the rest of your night, buddy?
KEVIN: I'm doing all my garnish for my mornay.
It needs to be, like, in the blast very, very soon.
I really want to shape my croquette tonight.
Smells like home. [laughs]
That smells good.
I have the base of my sauce starting.
Everyone is choosing to make, like, a potato croquette.
I think my potato fry is a little bit different.
Mine's going to have curry inside.
It's cheese, bound together by potato,
and then fried.
So, I'm hoping that mine stands out.
DAN: One hour, 20 minutes.
Cheese Fest 2023.
It's gonna be the most expensive potato croquettes ever.
Lots of cheese.
MANNY: You got the cheese in there?
CHARLY: No, I'm going to put the cheese on top.
Yeah, I don't want them to be gooey.
I want to be able to fry them without them falling apart.
Yeah, I'm going to press them in between two sheet trays,
and I'm going to let them cool down overnight.
And I'm gonna cut them tomorrow, bread them, and fry them.
MANNY: Oh, I love that.
KALEENA: Manny, don't judge my store-bought pasta, please.
I can feel your judgment from over here.
- MANNY: Oh my God, no. - [Kaleena laughs]
KALEENA: 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 this sh-- done.
Not so much mac and cheese,
more like a play on alfredo.
Oh [bleep], cream down.
Sorry. Cream down. Cream down. Watch that floor.
Hey, Chefs. How are we doing?
- ALISHA: Hi, Chefs. - Hey, Alisha.
- Hi, Chefs. - What are you making?
- I'm making croquettes. - Okay.
And what cheese did you get?
I got brick cheese, so I'm kind of doing, like,
a play on like, a ham and cheese sandwich.
When was the last time you made a croquette?
- I make 'em all the time. - Okay.
- I feel pretty confident. - Croquette Queen of Chicago.
- I am. - You are the-- Are you really?
I mean, my cuisine is Spanish food.
Oh, okay. So you're making croquetas.
- Croquetas. - Oh, okay.
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.
- What are we up to here? - Croquettes.
- Croquettes.
- We're all making croquettes. - Everybody's making croquettes.
- It's the croquette challenge. - Hot, hot, hot.
- What cheese did you get? - Gouda.
- You like the cheese?
Yeah, 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.
Good luck, Laura. Charly, what do you got here?
So I got yuca boiling in here. I'm gonna make yuca croquettes.
This looks like the croquette challenge.
The worst croquette could have a problem.
That's true, I'm gonna stand by my croquette
- and say it's gonna be good. - Okay.
When I'm thinking about how to serve 100 people,
a croquette is pretty easy and awesome,
because you fry them, which means that every few minutes,
people are getting fresh croquettes.
GAIL: We're gonna have the battle of the croquettes.
TOM: Yeah.
Hey, Kenny, what are you working on there?
A light, little maraschino cherry relish
to go with my Gorgonzola Crab Rangoon.
So what are you doing with the Gorgonzola?
I have made a crème out of it,
and made a little crab salad behind you.
Okay, so, crab salad, blue cheese.
GAIL: Okay.
I grew up eating Crab Rangoons,
so, Gorgonzola...
feels a little more familiar to me.
- Okay, sounds interesting. - [Kenny laughs]
You pull it off, it's going to be a great dish.
- Yeah. - If you don't, we'll see.
Tom shook me a little bit,
but I feel like I can pull it off,
I think.
All right, Chefs, we'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you, Chefs. - SAVANNAH: Bye, Chefs.
45 minutes.
Trying to make gnocchi as fast as I possibly can.
Right behind. Hot. Coming through. [screams]
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Careful, [indistinct].
There's a ---ing-- The floor is ---ing slippery.
Guys, be careful. The floor-- The floor here is slippery.
- Someone dropped cheese. - Definitely working it.
DAN: Can we have [indistinct] over here on our side?
KALEENA: Careful, the floor is slippery.
DAN: Ah, [bleep].
- Christ. God damn it. - I'm coming to clean it.
I'm coming to clean it, Chef.
DAN: I lost part of my gnocchi.
Laura, if you drop something, you need to clean it, Chef.
- You good? - Yeah. I'm okay.
DAN: Having Kennedy's disease,
I fall enough all on my own.
I don't need anyone else to help me.
Sh-- can be easily avoided.
The other chefs don't have to worry about
the physicality of what we're doing in the same way that I do.
I don't want to lose out because I got hurt.
You're not the only one in the kitchen.
Hey, I--
I didn't do it on purpose.
[groans] It's okay. It's all right.
We move on. We do something else.
15 minutes.
CHARLY: I'm about to press.
I am a little nervous about tomorrow's cook
because it's super important that my potatoes will be cold.
I'm just hoping that after pressing them
and leaving them rest overnight,
they're going to be solid enough for me to cut.
I still can't believe I made gnocchi.
***
One last thing. Thank you.
[upbeat music playing]
BOTH: Hey.
My partner, Garrett, and I have been together
for, I don't know, like,
nine or ten or eight years.
Sorry, Garrett. [chuckles]
So, I haven't been, like, in the bottom,
um, ever yet,
but I also haven't been in the top.
How's your mom?
I just moved from Seattle to Chicago
for a job opportunity.
My boyfriend and his mother moved with me.
My parents both passed away before I met Garrett.
His mom treats me like I'm her own daughter.
I love her very much.
I've been gone for a handful of weeks already,
and I don't want it to be for nothing.
I think I could be the next Top Chef.
All right, I love you. I'll talk to you later.
Okay. Bye.
RASIKA: Yeah.
This is my first chance to do my food,
and I know it's not why we're here,
but I'm, like, I really want to do this.
BOTH: That is exactly why you're here.
[Kenny laughs]
KENNY: You get the wedding vibe, for sure.
Yeah, this would be a beautiful wedding.
Yee-haw!
- Amazing. - It's cute.
It's cute as hell.
***
This is mine, this is mine.
Let's do this.
Look at that, cracking egg in the middle of a cornfield.
- Is that the American dream? - How you feeling on prep?
Need to cook my chicken and make my sauce.
AMANDA: Cheese, three different ways, here.
Hopefully, I do the maker really proud with this dish.
- I'm excited to taste this. - 45 minutes, Chefs.
Oh, my gosh. I am stressed.
I am worried about serving 100 people, and the time crunch.
But also, it is hot.
- The elements. - It's getting way too hot.
That's not good.
SAVANNAH: This dough is really soft.
If the batter is too soft.
They're just going to pop, and all the batter
is going to come out on the outside.
My potatoes didn't set. [sighs]
My potatoes, they are not cold anymore.
Trying to bread something that is not cold
is quite challenging.
I'm able to fry them, but they are super delicate.
The bees are liking the potatoes.
[Michelle screams]
These bees, they smell fear. They know.
It's one of my biggest fears, besides open water.
[Savannah exclaims]
Oh, my God. It is so hot.
Bees are, like, circling my head.
What else could go wrong?
Bees. Cheese and bees.
Because that's what y'all getting today.
RASIKA: Chefs, five minutes 'til we start serving
our cheese dishes, let's get cheesy.
Let's get cheesy!
They're golden. The cheese sauce is good.
It's just good.
- We're all doing croquettes. - CHARLY: I know.
It's a croquette-off.
You know Tom's gonna talk a lot of sh-- about it.
- Yeah, I know. - Oh, sh--.
Well, that didn't work.
[sighs] I don't know.
My [indistinct] is melting.
The only way to make it happen
and I can serve something is do double breading.
I hope it's not going to take away,
like, the flavor of the brie.
So the goal is, like, I have to batter it two times
so I have, like, a nice crust
so it doesn't break in the fryer.
***
Kitchen's open, everybody.
- So cute. - This is amazing.
Hello. Hello.
- BOTH: Wonderful. - Thank you very much.
KALEENA: I'm just going to give you a breadcrumb topping,
and then it'll be ready to go.
MICHELLE: Curry and, like, coconut milk.
And then, of course, the star to show is cheese.
I love this so much.
WOMAN: Oh, I'm excited about all this cheese.
Chef, what's your favorite cheese?
- You're a local. - Pleasant Ridge Reserve.
- Me too. I love Pleasant Ridge. - Oh, I love Pleasant Ridge.
TOM: When you think about cheese, it all comes from milk.
And look, it's-- it's all just so different.
What time and mold will do.
ALISHA: Let me know what you guys think.
ALISHA: Oh, really? Wow.
It's not that one. Mine is a Mexican Manchego.
ALISHA: Wow, that's so cool.
Well, I love your cheese, but I hope he loses. [laughs]
- BOTH: Hey, Danny. - What's up, Chef?
- What are you making for us? - DANNY: Cheddar fritter.
With a cheddar-lime mornay.
And then the outside is a cheddar-lime foam.
I just tried to highlight the cheese as best I could.
KRISTEN: Lighter, airier than I thought it would be.
Pâte à choux, and then cheddar inside.
- Exactly, yeah. - Okay. Fantastic.
- DANNY: Thank you. Cheers. - Thanks, Danny.
- DANNY: Enjoy. - Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Carla. Yes. Let's go.
- Way to start off. - Yeah.
I mean, cheese on cheese on cheese.
Batter is beautiful. It's so light and airy.
And then there's that lime and chili, which were so smart.
But you can taste all the different
parts of the cheese.
- The way he treated it. - Cheddar many, many ways.
MICHELLE: Hello, would you like to try some?
Ooh, thank you so much.
Let me know how they are, y'all.
SAVANNAH: This is a Oaxacan cheese quesadilla.
- Please enjoy. - KEVIN: Hello, guys.
You want some truffle croquettes?
- Yes, please. - Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming.
I'm struggling. I'm completely behind.
I'm using this entire time
double breading all my croquettes.
A little French kiss for Wisconsin.
At this point, I'm just like, "Okay, let's just
talk and charm them."
Vote for me. Tell me if you like it.
Vote for me, please. Vote for me, please.
I talk so much.
[upbeat music playing]
Please enjoy. Let me know what you guys think.
Come and get them, y'all. Thank you.
- Oh, it's delicious. Very good. - Thank you so much.
KRISTEN: Hi, Amanda.
- Hi, Judges. - Hello.
I'm making some raclette arancini.
There is Mornay inside the arancini,
and then on the bottom is a Mornay and Dijon sauce,
and a little bit of fig and olive.
- I like that Mornay move. - Thank you.
KRISTEN: Thank you, Amanda.
AMANDA: Tom said he liked my idea, so.
One of the nicest things he's said to me. [laughs]
It's very French.
I mean, you think about a raclette
and then pulling in that olive and the fig.
DANE: I'm almost getting, like, Cuban sandwich vibes.
- Oh, yeah. - CARLA: Mm-hmm.
Big time.
I also appreciate the rice is actually cooked properly.
- Yes. - The olive was my favorite.
Thank you so much.
RASIKA: Hello. Would you like to try some?
The rind is actually washed in merlot.
Hi, guys. How are you?
Alisha is the croquette queen of Chicago.
Oh, no, I'm so regretting telling you that.
[all laughing]
So it's going to be ham and brick cheese croquettes,
with a sherry aioli.
Great. Thank you.
- Have a beautiful day. - KRISTEN: You, too.
Croquette is lovely. It's very light, and crisp.
Another really nice fried ball.
It's really well balanced, I will say.
Thought it had just enough brightness.
TOM: The mustard definitely gave it some sharpness.
It's good.
AMANDA: It's just some pickled vegetable.
Thank you.
- KRISTEN: Hi, Manny. - Hello.
- How are you? - Sweaty. [laughs]
We have a potato croquette, cheese curds, and a beer gravy.
KRISTEN: So there's no cheese curd in the potato?
No, there's no cheese curd in the potatoes.
Instead of having French fries with curds and gravy,
I'm having potato croquette.
- KRISTEN: Thanks, Manny. - Thank you.
Well, they went for double bites.
That's a good thing.
I just wish that they would incorporate
the cheese curds in the dish.
Talk to me.
I already can feel the wheels turning a little bit.
It's really salty. This gravy's good.
It's not too thick. It's really flavorful.
I'm really disappointed that the cheese curds
are just on the plate.
There was no effort to even incorporate it
into any kind of the dish.
I didn't think we were going to get
just out of the bag cheese curds.
You got to manipulate the cheese somehow.
TOM: Yeah.
MANNY: I know that you can fry them,
and you can make poutine, so I just went for poutine.
TOM: What you got for us, Charlie?
So I got these yuca croquettes
filled with the Canela cheese,
and then we have a tomato-mango sauce on the side.
Canela has, like, a honey note to it
that I think works really well with the fruitiness
of the mango and the tomato sauce.
The croquette itself is a little under-seasoned.
Here is an example where the cheese is quite mild.
The yuca is heavy.
I didn't taste the cheese,
especially when you dunked it
in the tomato-mango sauce.
The mango-tomato sauce, kind of soup-ish,
but more saucy.
- Hello. - How are you?
I, for one, am very excited to have a non-fried item.
- GAIL: Me, too. - KALEENA: So it's funny,
because I thought everyone was gonna be doing mac 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.
MADELINE: On a scale of one to 10,
I'd probably give it eight and a half.
What I like about Kaleena's dish is that she really took a cue
from the cheese, using the merlot.
This whole dish is a celebration
of the wash on the cheese itself.
Kaleena made a very tasty dish.
TOM: It's a good dish. Yeah.
Please vote for me. I worked my butt off. [laughs]
I haven't won yet.
- Hi, Savannah. - Hi.
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 Chile.
- Fantastic. - Mm-hmm.
SAVANNAH: I haven't won anything yet,
and it would be really nice to feel that.
Not just the immunity, but also to win Diner's Choice.
That crunch with the corn, and then that nice, little heat.
Really traditional, and delicious.
A lot to critique on her dish,
- but I still liked it. - CARLA: I liked it.
I don't know, maybe I'm the unpopular opinion,
but it was just too much cheese.
- Get out of Wisconsin. - [Kristen laughs]
Enjoy, guys. Thank you so much.
- Hello. Hello. - Hi, Kevin.
- KEVIN: Ca va.
So you have, like, a sauce Mornay
with, like, dice of ham, chives,
and on the top, you have a truffle paste
made with, like, mushroom and truffle.
KRISTEN: What was the breading?
- Just three-step breading? - KEVIN: Yeah.
TOM: Why did you want to make a croquette with the cheese?
Because for me, like, it's creaminess of the cheese.
Like, I just wanted to make it melt.
Croquette with truffle. Why not?
Okay. Why not? Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
You want to be able to taste the cheese, right?
It should be cheese-forward.
The truffle's overpowered the brie.
I really want to say something positive about it,
and I'm just-- it's not coming to me.
I think the three-stage breading
made it eggy and too thick,
and we didn't get the benefit of that beautiful cheese.
This could be the worst croquette we've had so far.
***
- Hi, Dan. How are you? - DAN: Hi, guys.
I was lucky enough to get a cheese
from Door County, Wisconsin.
Sancho Cruz Manchego.
We're doing this with some potato dumplings,
aerated the cheese,
and olive and charred scallion tapenade,
and then finished it off with some fried potatoes.
- KRISTEN: Fantastic. - TOM: I like it.
- Thank you. - STEVE: It's amazing.
Dumpling texture is really nice.
Yeah, he did an awesome job.
Well, I thought there were some powerful descriptors there
that came across in a very strong and subtle way,
which is not an easy thing to pull off.
He not only gave us, like, a really good dish,
but he gave us something that still felt light and summery,
I think, because of the texture of the foam, and the sauce.
And I think he really understood how to pair his cheese.
Texture of these dumplings is perfect.
Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
- Hi, Laura. - Oh, hello.
I have this beautiful gouda reserve that's been aged.
Using the idea of a mostarda potato croquette.
- Enjoy. - Thank you.
- Thank you all. - Thank you.
The nuts and the gouda,
super mild, and super delicious.
They go really well together.
I think the texture of it,
I think it had too much roux.
I mean, the base of it. We weren't getting the cheese.
And I think this is supposed to be a mostarda.
I got zero mustard. I got no spice out of it at all.
That would have been a great base for that croquette.
- Yeah. - A little mostarda.
- What a great presentation. - Thank you.
KENNY: I'm running a little low on my relish,
and I still haven't seen any of the judges.
Diners are in charge of who's winning,
but the judges get to pick who goes home.
I just have to save what I have left
and give it to the judges.
How many we got?
- GAIL: Hi, Rasika. - Hi, Judges.
I had the Dunbarton blue cheese. It's a cheddar blue.
So I did a rice cake. It's called a paniyaram.
I folded the cheese in the batter of the rice cake.
I made a braised chicken thigh korma.
It smells beautiful.
- Thanks, Rasika. - Thank you. Enjoy.
The Dunbarton with the rice cake on it.
- Yeah, it was really nice. - Yeah. Very creative.
Rasika, I think, also put together a really nice dish.
The rice cake, I thought was fantastic.
I love the cashews and the hazelnuts.
I love the herbs,
and all those really beautifully balanced spices.
I liked it a lot. Yeah. I thought it carried well.
- First time in Wisconsin? - First time in the Midwest.
- KRISTEN: Hello, Kenny. - Hi.
Today I've prepared a Crab Rangoon salad,
with a Gorgonzola crème fraiche crema,
a little Luxardo cherry relish,
a chili hibiscus flake, on a rice paper chip.
- Thank you, Kenny. - Thank you, guys.
I don't taste a lot of the cheese,
which is interesting, because it's a Gorgonzola.
I'd be all about a lot more cheese.
CARLA: I didn't get the cheese at all with Kenny's,
and I think that it was a celebration of so many things.
I don't know what they were.
I don't know if they were celebrating.
I think they were all kind of standing around, bored.
I don't think Crab Rangoon salad
when I think Gorgonzola.
I think that it was too watery.
What's crazy, is when we went up to the table,
he was spooning the wet stuff over it, too.
- KRISTEN: Michelle. - Hi.
I did Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese today,
and I did a take on a saag 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.
- Fantastic. Thanks, Michelle. - Thank you so much.
- CARLA: Thank you. - ANDY: Pleasant ridge reserve.
I don't think I've ever had our cheese
used in this setting.
This is really interesting.
Michelle's dish, I thought was ----ing fantastic.
- Oh, my-- - Yeah.
- Like, hands down. - Absolutely.
I'm trying to think, like,
is it because it was so different
and it wasn't heavy, lots of cheese?
Then I'm thinking, like, "No, no, it was a better dish."
I mean, I tasted the nuttiness of the cheese
in with the collards, as well as the fritter.
I just thought it was really great.
So, I'm actually a barbecue chef.
I was a pit master for the last six years.
- Let's go count the votes. - All right.
- Let's go tally them up. - All right.
- Is it time? - It's time.
- Plug your ears. - [siren wailing]
Hi. [laughs]
Thanks, everyone, for being here.
If we could please call up the chefs.
[cheering, applause]
[tense music playing]
All right, Chefs. The results are in.
The three crowd favorites are: Kaleena...
[cheering, applause]
...Michelle...
- [chefs cheering] - [Michelle laughs]
...and Dan.
[chefs cheering]
But as we all know, there can only be one winner.
The winner of the first-ever Top Chef Cheese Festival is...
Michelle.
[chefs cheering]
- Congratulations. - Thank you. [chuckles]
Your girl wins the challenge.
I think it's just confirming
what great taste all these people have,
because we also loved your dish.
- We found it really wonderful. - Thank you.
Michelle, you just won immunity
in the next Elimination Challenge.
- Holy crap. - [Kristen laughs]
Thank you very much for enduring the heat,
and coming to our first-ever Top Chef Cheese Festival.
[all applauding]
Thank you. Thank you.
Winning this challenge has definitely been added
to my affirmations.
I can't believe this!
Michelle, you are a winner.
You deserve to be here
cooking amongst all these amazing chefs.
It feels damn good.
- Congratulations. - Thank you.
Kenny, Manny, and Kevin, please stay here.
The rest of you can move to the side.
Unfortunately, the three of you
had our least favorite dishes of the day,
and I don't want to kick you while you're down,
but you also had the three least favorite dishes
from the diners, as well.
***
Kenny, when you got the Gorgonzola,
did you immediately think of Crab Rangoon
or did you filter through several ideas?
I felt really familiar with it.
The creaminess of it, the umami.
That's definitely where one of my first thoughts were.
It was nice to have a cold dish for today.
I did forget we were at a cheese festival when I tried your dish.
TOM: I felt it was more about the crab.
Even though blue cheese is fairly assertive,
it just kind of got lost in there.
Did you mean it for it to be that wet?
I know when we pulled up,
you were ladling some kind of liquid over it.
I kind of ran out of the relish I made right towards the end,
and I was trying to get that flavor on.
Not only was I not getting the cheese,
but I was just getting sort of this, like, wet mush.
Kevin, how do you feel like your dish went?
Got caught with the heat and the time.
I don't know what to say.
CARLA: I think, Kevin,
the ratio of the breading to the filling was off.
Yeah, I had to double because it was getting hot,
so my inside was, like, melting,
so I had to make a double coating.
- So, I was like, "Great." - It was a bit under-seasoned.
Those flavors aren't going to come through.
When you're dealing with a texture like that,
and it's under-seasoned, it makes it
- further unpleasant. - Gotcha.
So, why did you choose to do a croquette at all?
I don't want to make any cliché at all,
but I'm in American cornfield, so, yeah,
I was like, "Let's fry my cheese."
We were looking for cheese. Not fried stuff.
- Okay. - KRISTEN: Manny.
That dish could have worked on a normal setting
where you get to freeze it,
and bread it, and the whole thing.
It sounds like you're trying to do something
that is impossible, and hoping that it works.
Half this damn game is right here.
- It's mental. - Yes, Chef.
The potato itself was under-seasoned.
Just the general idea of taking this fried thing
and then dousing it in gravy,
did not help the cause whatsoever.
Did you do anything to the curds besides put them on the plate?
- I did not have time, no. - GAIL: No.
The point of the challenge
was that the cheese be the star.
- Understood. - KRISTEN: Thank you very much.
We will call you back in a little bit.
- Thanks. - Thank you.
MANNY: Overthink everything.
- Kaleena, pour me up. - Yeah, yeah.
- Salute. - Congratulations, Michelle.
- Thank you. - Let's go, Mama.
- It's about time, for real. - ALL: Cheers.
I really just focused on knowing
that the audience were the judges.
I felt like I had a good game plan going in.
I think having it sit overnight
instead of just trying to do it today, not a great idea.
By the time we got to Kenny's, I was really happy
about a little chill in my mouth.
I was like, "Oh, this is going to be great."
And it just wasn't. It didn't highlight the cheese.
It also didn't highlight the crab.
It didn't highlight the cherries.
But we didn't get cherries.
We got the juice that the cherries were marinated in.
It just blows my mind that you know you haven't seen us yet.
You'd think you'd save it, put it aside, and say,
"This has to go for the judges."
Well, there's other bad decisions
that led up to that moment, that's clear.
I mean, I ----ed up. It wasn't a good dish.
Like, I'm not even gonna try to defend the indefensible.
It was a plethora of bad decisions.
Manny knew every misstep that he did.
He's not surprised where he's at.
Yeah, he struggled from the very beginning.
I mean, you open up your potatoes,
and you see they're all soft, and he's like,
"All right, there's no way to bread this."
As soon as he chose to do
such a complicated potato preparation,
he lost all his time to spend on the cheese.
And this challenge was about those curds.
KEVIN: It is what it is.
Already had the chance to have a second Top Chef,
so I'm very happy, like, to meet every one of you.
No matter what happened.
On the last Elimination Challenge,
we told Kevin that his olive dish was too simple.
And a simple statement, Tom,
like that, really ----s with your head.
- Maybe he tried to do too much. - But that wasn't too much.
You got the beautiful cheese, and you're doing
a really terrible job of highlighting it.
That breading was double thick. That was the problem.
I respect both of you so much,
and no matter what happens,
all of you, it was a pleasure.
Just remember that this game doesn't define you as a chef.
You can be on the top one day,
you can be on the bottom the next day.
Preach.
It's clear that all three had
a lot of missteps in their dishes,
but I think we all know who our least favorite one was.
- I think so. Absolutely. - Yeah.
Let's get the chefs back out here.
TOM: Chefs, we're here in Wisconsin.
You were given some exceptional cheeses,
and you really didn't showcase them at all.
Kenny, please pack your knives, and go.
Thank you, Chef.
Kenny, we'll see you at Last Chance Kitchen.
You know, that dish just didn't come together.
You get a chance to cook again,
you got to think about how these flavors
are all gonna work together, and execute them.
- You got a shot. - Thank you, guys.
- Thank you, Kenny. - Thanks.
- Thank you, Chefs. - Hey, guys.
Sucks to go earlier than I wanted to.
Head up.
This whole experience has been really eye-opening,
just in the sense of, like, how to connect with people.
I can't wait to go home and be better
for myself, and for my staff.
- I love you. - KENNY: Love you, too.
- KALEENA: Be proud. - KENNY: For sure.
KENNY: But I'm excited to get into Last Chance Kitchen,
and duke it out.
TOM: Tonight, Kenny's cheese dish
lands him in Last Chance Kitchen.
Trying to get this bad boy to set, real quick.
TOM: Will his next dish be good enough
to beat the reigning champ?
It smells so good in here.
Watch now on Peacock
or wherever you stream Top Chef.
KRISTEN: Next time on Top Chef...
We want you to create two dishes
inspired by the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright.
This is gorgeous.
- This is a double elimination. - [bleep]
SAVANNAH: I mean, this is a competition.
I want people to drop like flies.
Tight squeeze.
Oh, God, please be with me,
'cause I've never done this before.
- Oh, my God. I'm so shaky. - Ooh, it's a little dry.
It feels like I may have bitten more than I could chew.
Everything's clashing.
This is like, a first-year culinary student
trying to make a fancy dish.
AMANDA: It's already done. What's done is done.
I'm really not enjoying this at all.
- I can't breathe. - Okay.