We want two dishes that look exactly alike
but taste completely different.
This is a double elimination.
This challenge is all about survival.
You don't want to be the one to sink someone's dream.
I would never make this dish if Buddha weren't on my team.
That might be the best dessert we've had.
The panna cotta hasn't set.
Both domes are texturally off.
The winning team tonight is Jackson and Buddha.
It sucks being down here.
Robert and Sarah, please pack your knives and go.
Ten chefs remain to compete in the ultimate culinary showdown.
At stake for the winner,
a feature in Food and Wine Magazine,
an appearance at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen,
$250,000 furnished by San Pellegrino
and the coveted title of Top Chef.
♪♪♪
I think as hard as it could be to go out individually,
it's so hard to go out as a team.
I was just like, "Oh, it's not my name. Oh my God."
Hi, chefs.
- Padma. - Twist! Oh no.
I know it's hard to say goodbye to two chefs,
but the competition has to go on.
Tomorrow, you'll meet Brooke Williamson on location,
and she'll tell you what your next challenge is.
Get some rest.
- CHEFS: Thank you. - PADMA: I'll see you later.
JO: All right guys, from now on,
someone has to be on watch out for the door.
♪♪♪
It doesn't feel like Padma would come in
and give us that omen if it was just a Quickfire.
If she's coming in to warn us,
it's going to be a hard challenge.
♪♪♪
- Good morning, chefs. - Good morning.
Follow me, I've got some cool things to show you.
♪♪♪
BROOKE: You guys, how cool is this?
- Beautiful. - We've been waiting for this.
It's the barbecue challenge.
♪♪♪
This is Texas, and as you know,
it's all about the perfect brisket.
Texas style brisket,
it's one of the most difficult things
to properly accomplish.
Locals have perfected new concepts like
brisket fried rice, brisket hand rolls, brisket pho.
So, for your elimination challenge,
we want you to flip the script on what barbecue can be
and put your own twist on brisket.
You guys seem really intense today.
Girl's from Texas.
[laughing]
I have to represent.
This morning, you'll have 30 minutes
to select your brisket, trim it, rub it,
and get it on the smoker.
Once it's in the smoker,
I'm going to hang back with Willow Villarreal,
the pitmaster here at J-Bar-M, and monitor the temperature
while you all go to Whole Foods Market
to shop out the rest of your dish.
You'll have until midnight tonight
to get your briskets done.
Definitely surprised that we don't have a Quickfire today,
but really glad that we have way more hours
in order to prep and cook.
Your guest judge for tomorrow will be pitmaster Greg Gatlin,
and 20 of Houston's best pitmasters.
- Oh, wow. - MONIQUE: Oh my gosh.
No pressure.
- LUKE: Wow. --it. - All right chefs,
your 30 minutes to get your brisket prepped starts now.
♪♪♪
- JAE: Oh my God. - LUKE: Oh yeah!
NICK: Oh yeah.
At this point in the competition,
I've been pretty much consistently staying
in the middle.
Being from Mississippi, I have to crush this.
I'm getting that one. My smoking game is pretty solid.
Those are the great memories from back home,
sitting by the grill with my family.
There we go.
As a chef from Texas,
you gotta figure it out through the smoking process.
You want that flavor to be dragged down
into the center of the meat.
ASHLEIGH: Some nice briskets, huh?
Yeah, they're nice.
If don't put enough flavor into your rub,
you won't find out until 12 hours later.
I almost always rub my brisket
with some like, paprika, harissa blend.
ASHLEIGH: Sounds good.
We have 12 hours of cook time,
so I'm gonna really think through this dish.
I am working on this little spice rub.
- It's called "kitchen pepper." - Love that.
ASHLEIGH: I think of a dish called Chicken and Slicks.
It's just a simple broth with chicken
and these flat dumplings.
So, I'm thinking that I could do kitchen pepper brisket
and sweet potato slicks.
Ginger...
15 minutes.
EVELYN: Nick, what are you going with for your rub, man?
NICK: I definitely add at least 12 to 14 different spices.
What about you?
EVELYN: I'm sticking with the black pepper and salt,
and then just adding notes of different spices
that are going to be part of my dish as well.
I've been waiting to have the challenge
to really showcase my ability to make curries.
So, I'm going to be making a brisket curry.
So, for my brisket rub
I'm just adding a little bit of cinnamon,
I have some coriander, some fennel,
and a bit of paprika in there.
I think I'm in between some pros over here.
Buddha, what are what are you doing with your rub?
Almost tradition with salt and pepper.
- JAE: Oh, cool. - BUDDHA: And yourself?
JAE: I am doing like, a Cajun spice.
BUDDHA: What are you thinking?
I think I'm going to go pasta, man, finally.
My plan is to make brisket the star,
which is why I'm going to do the scarpinocc pasta.
You can stuff it so much that it's like, 90% filling,
and just 10% pasta.
If I stuff a pasta, I might need to grind it.
Yeah.
And you know, the beauty of brisket is like,
- the whole piece. - Yeah.
LUKE: Any specific side I should put down first?
NICK: Yeah, fatty side towards the heat.
LUKE: Towards the heat.
I feel we're about to use the Rolls-Royce
of barbecue smokers here. It's pretty cool.
The frame, is that kind of to like lock in some moisture,
or you--
So, moisture.
[Jae groaning]
Barbecue in Korea is really big.
But we slice the raw beef super thinly
and grill on the table side.
All right.
So, this type of barbecue is very different
than what I'm really used to.
Don't slam it.
EVELYN: I'm gonna just pray on it.
[Evelyn praying]
To the brisket gods.
- DAMARR: Y'all ready? - JACKSON: Deal.
- BUDDHA: I smell like smoke. - LUKE: Good luck, Jae.
- JAE: Good luck to you. - MONIQUE: Good luck, everyone.
Okay, so, let's get some inspiration.
- BUDDHA: What are you making? - MONIQUE: Onion soubise.
- Going super French on this. - Soubise?
I'm actually doing something French as well.
Beef bourguignon.
Oh, cool! Nice.
Because I'm so uncomfortable and inexperienced
with barbecue itself,
I'm just going to stick with what I know
and be inspired by French cooking.
JACKSON: Hey, you need help? Let me help you.
MONIQUE: No, I think I'm okay.
I think of it like a steak dish
where you feature the brisket on itself,
and on the side you have potatoes or shallots,
things like that.
ASHLEIGH: I'm doing something like chicken and slicks.
Are you familiar with chicken and dumplings?
MONIQUE: Oh yeah.
I'm surprised at how much cook time we have.
I start to think of what else I can do:
stewed greens, sweet potatoes, creamed corn,
flavors that are reminiscent of my family barbecue.
I'm going to get more parsnips.
Five minutes, chefs.
All right, I'm checking out.
I think I'm just going to make it.
- $293. - Thank you.
BUDDHA: All right, let's get to the kitchen, guys.
♪♪♪
Hey, chefs. How's it going?
We've decided to do things a little out of order today.
Sons of bitches.
[chuckling]
♪♪♪
TOM: We've decided to do things a little out of order today.
[whispering] Jesus Christ.
I never said there wasn't a Quickfire.
♪♪♪
TOM: So, for this Quickfire Challenge,
we thought we'd have a little fun
with a classic barbecue side: Texas toast.
Never made Texas toast. Never eaten Texas toast.
Why does it need to be Texan? Can't it just be toast?
Texas toast is a thick-cut slice of bread.
The story goes: at a pig stand in the '40s,
a bread order came in that was too thick
to fit into the toaster,
so they decided to butter and grill the bread,
giving us Texas toast.
We've stocked a variety of breads and challenge dairy
for you to work with.
TOM: Come up with something delicious,
possibly something we've never seen before.
But there's a little bit at stake here.
Whoever wins this challenge will win immunity and $10,000.
- --it. - Well, God damn.
[Monique giggling]
$10,000... for toast?
Game on.
If I was to win $10,000,
I'd pay my pug's eye surgery.
No --it. He's gone blind.
[dog whimpering]
TOM: You have 30 minutes on the clock,
- and your time starts... - TOM & BROOKE: Now.
ASHLEIGH: What do we have here?
MONIQUE: Oh my God, this is crazy.
- Sorry, I'm in your face. - MONIQUE: What is this?
I go for the French country bread, nobody touches that.
I'm okay, all right. Ugh.
EVELYN: I got all the things.
DAMARR: What kind of bread did you get, Jo?
Olive oil and thyme. What'd you get?
Thick-cut white bread.
I don't know what to expect anymore.
Just when you think you're safe.
Oh my God, this is time away from my dish.
I want to get this Quickfire over with
so that I can focus on my brisket.
I'm doing a pizza roll, just like mom used to make.
I'm thinking BLT. Three different type of tomatoes,
wilt down most of everything on it.
It's hard to deliver up that message of Texas toast
by having like, a thin cut of bread.
You know, you're in Texas. It needs to be durable.
MONIQUE: What the [bleep] Jackson!
I have no ----ing idea, man. I'm from Cali. You know?
What's your plan, Jackson?
I'm going to do a shrimp toast. How about you?
I'm going to do a mille-feuille of bread.
In 30 minutes? Damn.
A mille-feuille is basically a thousand layers.
So, my plan is to cut the Texas toast really thin.
I want to make a buttercream.
JACKSON: Buttercream, so you're going sweet?
I'm going sweet.
And create layers of buttercream in toast.
BUDDHA: Jae, what's your plan?
JAE: Vietnamese style shrimp toast.
I am nervous!
ASHLEIGH: We never even talked about this possibility.
- Like, hello. - 15 minutes.
Ugh!
Damn, ain't that some sh.
What are you making?
Mushroom toast since I found lion's mane
and maitake mushrooms.
There's $10,000 on the line.
I have a wonderful fiancée and a wedding to plan.
JACKSON: You ever make Texas toast before, Jo?
JO: Usually when I'm drunk, very late at night.
When you're drunk? Okay.
NICK: Buddha, how are you doing over there?
BUDDHA: I've been better.
BUDDHA: I've got a croissant.
So, I'm going to do a mille-feuille.
NICK: Luke, what are you doing in a blender right now?
- ASHLEIGH: Silence. - Thank you, Luke.
NICK: Lukey don't have time to talk.
LUKE: I'm going to make crawfish and chorizo emulsion
on top focaccia with pancetta.
BUDDHA: Why did you use focaccia bread?
LUKE: 'Cause I like focaccia bread.
[Buddha chuckling]
JAE: Hot stuff, very hot.
Right behind, hot.
Hot, hot. Very hot.
Hey, chefs, you got five minutes left. Five minutes.
- JO: Five minutes. Yes, chef. - BUDDHA: Whoo!
MONIQUE: Hot, hot, hot, hot.
Once I start cutting the mille-feuille,
I realize that I need something else on the plate
to give it another dimension.
I find king trumpet mushrooms
in order to make my dish sweet and savory.
And so I'm rushing to just get them cooked.
- JACKSON: Three minutes. - MONIQUE: This is crazy!
JAE: How is your toast coming along, Evelyn?
Tastes delicious, maybe doesn't look the greatest.
Coming through.
This right here is going to make a statement.
Oh my God.
- 30 seconds, y'all - MONIQUE: Ugh!
BUDDHA: 10K. Wuh-wuh-wuh-wow.
[Evelyn laughing]
JO: Four... three... two... one...
Chefs, time's up.
- Let's go. - Oh, man.
I added too much of the pancetta on top of my toast.
I wanted to grab some acid that could cut that salt,
but it was too late.
You guys are toast.
Evelyn, come on up.
Hello, chefs.
- Hello. - EVELYN: Dessert first.
TOM: Oh, look at that.
EVELYN: The toast itself is sugared in a custard,
and crispy caramelized on top, spiced pecans
and boozy strawberries.
- TOM: All right, thanks. - BROOKE: Awesome, thank you.
JAE: So, I made Vietnamese style shrimp
and lobster toast, pickled veggies on top.
BROOKE: The shrimp is the purée?
JAE: Yeah, I made a shrimp mousse.
BROOKE: Okay.
- Okay, thank you. - Thank you.
Hi, chefs. I prepared a pizza roll-up.
- Oh, okay. - BROOKE: Wow.
ASHLEIGH: With a Gruyère and parmesan Reggiano
and tomato sauce basil sauce.
- TOM: Thank you. - Thank you.
That's a strawberry and raspberry mille-feuille
with whipped ricotta, cinnamon, croissant toast,
and raspberry jam.
So, you hear Texas toast and you pick mille-feuille?
[BUDDHA & BROOKE laughing]
Well, you said reinvent it, so, yeah.
Yeah.
Today, I made a BLT.
My bread was ciabatta Colby-Jack pancetta.
BROOKE: Did you turn the cheese into a spread of some sort?
NICK: Yes, from the fat from the pancetta.
- TOM: Great, thank you. - NICK: Thank you.
I made focaccia Texas toast with crawfish
and chorizo emulsion with a pancetta,
pine nut, herb salad on top
So, I did a pizza toast:
Buffalo mozzarella and fresh tomato sauce
with white anchovy, capers,
kalamata olives and I did some fried prosciutto on top.
Thank you.
Monique, come on up.
What do we have here?
I had an inspiration of mille-feuille as well.
I sliced it really thin
and made an orange blossom buttercream
and then also glazed the king trumpet mushrooms.
Is the bread toasted at all?
- It is toasted but-- - Is it?
I mean, yeah, just a little bit.
I didn't want to get it too toasted,
the buttercream might melt.
TOM: Got it.
- Hi, chefs. - Hello.
I made for you a mushroom and arugula toast
flavored with a little bit of espelette and smoked paprika.
You like mushrooms, don't you?
Mm-hmm. Thank you.
Jackson, what'd you make?
Shrimp toast with balsamic chili jam.
BROOKE: Is it a sweet jam?
Very lightly sweetened, mostly acidic and spicy.
- Thank you. - JACKSON: Thanks.
- Well, that was fun, huh? - That was.
Yeah, some really tasty bits, and others as well.
So, Brooke, what do you think? Who's on the bottom?
Luke, I think you had a good idea.
Unfortunately, the whole dish was too salty.
Yeah, really, really salty.
Monique, the mushroom and buttercream combo felt
a little strange.
TOM: I mean, it was more like a Texas tea sandwich,
- not so much a toast. - Okay.
So, Brooke, who were your favorites?
Nick, your BLT was everything
that I want out of a BLT in terms of flavor.
Agreed. And the ratio of that thick toast to the topping
is just perfect.
Jo, your mushroom bread was flavorful
and you held the integrity of that toast.
It was really tasty.
Jackson, it was slightly sweet,
it was salty on top of the bread that we wanted to eat.
Okay, so winner, immunity, and $10,000.
The chef with the best Texas toast dish today is...
♪♪♪
The chef today that had the best Texas toast dish is...
Nick.
LUKE: Nice work.
Get back there, yeah, cool.
Finally, I'm on the top.
- About time. - Good job, my brotha.
But no time to celebrate.
MONIQUE: All right.
It's straight back into the cook.
Coming through.
I mean, how's she looking so far?
I think it looks great.
EVELYN: Oh my God, that looks beautiful!
JAE: Jo, how you doing?
I'm Italian now.
- [Jae laughing] - Twist!
Thus far in the competition, I've cooked a lot of Asian food,
and really, pasta is sort of my wheelhouse.
When I started cooking in New York,
it was all California Italian.
I don't think I've actually cooked my food
since I've gotten here.
I don't know that there's another prep task
in the kitchen that I love more than making pasta.
EVELYN: Ooh look at all that pasta! My girl.
Do I have to do this?
- It's kind of heavy. - You got it.
MONIQUE: Oh my God.
NICK: So, you gotta spray it all over, okay?
All over? Like, a lot?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, all over.
All right.
I don't know, man. I've never done this before, so.
I hear ya.
I'm also going to commit a cardinal sin
and I'm actually going to grind it up
and put it inside a pasta, so.
Why am I bastardizing this entire process?
It just makes sense in my head, and I am making it my own.
But... I could have 20 really angry pitmasters tomorrow.
See how it goes.
Pouring here.
I'm in my potato zone.
--it needs to get done.
I can like, smell the brisket already, right?
Nice and smoky.
Having this long cook gives me an opportunity
to incorporate elements into this dish
that normally I don't get the time to do.
NICK: How much prep have y'all completed yet?
ASHLEIGH: I'm on the second component.
So, two out of five.
Oh wait, no, I'm sorry. Two out of six.
♪♪♪
EVELYN: I want to check on our babies, brisket babies.
Oh yeah, they're like 150 something.
WILLOW: Maybe tip it,
now you get that grease that's pooling.
- EVELYN: Oh, I got you. - Sweet.
WILLOW: I would move that one.
MONIQUE: To the back? I'm learning so much.
- WILLOW: Perfect. - [slamming]
Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry...
WILLOW: You picked some big boys, man.
DAMARR: Yeah...
I'm going to try to treat this brisket
like a star of the plate,
and then I'm definitely doing some things
that I wouldn't do because of time restraints.
I'm making the Worcestershire consommé
to kind of show some technique,
pickles that could actually sit for more than 30 minutes.
I'm hoping that the flavors really come through.
It's going to get interesting.
JACKSON: Yes, there's food out there
if you want anything, all right?
- Oh, look at this. - Yeah!
- ASHLEIGH: Oh my God. Amazing. - MONIQUE: So hungry.
[indistinct]
If you're not drinking a beer, are you really barbecuing?
ASHLEIGH: What?
NICK: I ain't never seen this before.
EVELYN: Okay, I'm from Texas and I don't know how to lasso.
ASHLEIGH: Like on the cartoons, man.
NICK: Y'all act like y'all know it,
but come and show me.
- [Evelyn laughing] - ASHLEIGH: Do it up!
- Oh, boy. - Yee-haw!
ASHLEIGH: Oh!
NICK: Oh. Ugh.
I'm definitely not going to change careers.
ASHLEIGH: You found your true calling?
[Nick & Ashleigh laughing]
♪♪♪
MONIQUE: Perfect. All right.
WILLOW: You got a little ways to go.
ASHLEIGH: Okay.
BUDDHA: Might work on some pickles.
Pickles isn't traditional on a beef bourguignon, but--
JACKSON: Brisket isn't traditional
With beef bourguignon either, so,
you got that going for you.
I'm not going traditional because the judges said
that they're not looking for something traditional.
Funny finding you here.
Beef bourguignon with barbecue.
I'm eating it in my mind and I'm going,
"This is going to work."
MONIQUE: This is so cool.
The brisket, you take it out of the smoker
and it has to rest.
So, we're walking in tomorrow
totally blind on if your meat is tender,
if you over seasoned it or under seasoned it.
Ugh.
You don't know what you're working with exactly.
JACKSON: You guys are awesome, man.
Seriously.
EVELYN: We definitely smell like smoke.
JO: I reek of smoke.
[laughing]
♪♪♪
Yeah, of course you are.
NICK: How are you feeling?
The main part of our dish hasn't even been tasted yet,
so like, you get there and it sucks, then it's like...
ASHLEIGH: I know.
I'm just naturally an anxious person,
and I think being in this environment,
it's been very stressful, like with this dish.
So, I don't know why I'm taking this risk, to be honest.
But meditation just helps me kind of mentally prepare
to just start working really quickly
because I know that there's really no room for error.
♪♪♪
- DAMARR: Let's get it. - MONIQUE: Okay, here we go.
Hot, hot, coming through.
Today, no pressure.
Just 20 of the best Texas pitmasters
are going to be trying my brisket.
ASHLEIGH: Oh boy.
DAMARR: I'm scared as hell.
- ASHLEIGH: Me too. - JACKSON: ----ing terrifying.
All right.
[Damarr humming]
Mmm. Mmm.
Pretty dang close to perfect, man.
I like it.
EVELYN: Nice and juicy.
I'm so excited to be cooking barbecue in Texas,
but I'm so nervous at the same time.
LUKE: Yeah.
You know why? Because you don't mess with Texas.
[everyone laughing]
NICK: Monique, that brisket, what is it looking like?
It's okay.
The warm spices from my rub didn't really come out.
So, I kind of really just taste salt, pepper,
and at this point, I have to work with what I have.
Maybe I'm going to add more cardamom to the sides.
DAMARR: Uh, assuming you're dancing
means it turned out pretty well, yeah?
- JO: Yup. - DAMARR: Awesome.
Part of me wishes that this was just a brisket challenge,
straight up. I know that I would kill that.
I'm struggling with figuring out
exactly how I'm going to highlight the brisket
and yet still incorporate it into my dish.
ASHLEIGH: I'm going to cut into this one.
Definitely smells like kitchen pepper. Ooh.
No. The brisket is under salted.
That's an unfortunate mistake that I cannot take back.
So, I'm going to make sure
that the stew this brisket lives in is full of flavor.
I'm going to go get my slicks on, go from there.
♪♪♪
NICK: Anybody want some south in their mouth?
Oh --it.
JACKSON: Hey Buddha, what you got going on
- with your brisket? - Got a little bit of trim.
So, I'm just going to make a stock out of it,
enrich it, pour it back over my brisket.
JACKSON: Nice.
Got quite a few components, so.
Classic Buddha style.
This morning, I'm making my brioche bread from scratch.
Ah, don't they like, regular pastry brushes?
I make bread on a regular basis in my pastry shop,
so very familiar with bread.
Time wise, I wish I could proof the brioche bread for longer.
It just needs to get in the oven.
Jackson, how do you feel about that brisket?
Pretty good, mate.
I have to grind this brisket, and it looks really nice.
There you go.
I feel kind of bad. Chopping up the brisket.
Probably a cardinal sin here in Texas.
But the goal is to be creative, and I'm going to go for it.
- 30 minutes. - EVELYN: 30 minutes.
Just working on my burnt-in like, crumble.
I just want to incorporate as much of the brisket
and all its delicious layers into my dish.
Straight up brisket curry.
[Evelyn laughing]
Oh --it, they're here.
TOM: Hey, how you doing? How are you?
- EVELYN: 10 minutes. - 10 minutes!
Ugh! Hot, hot, coming through.
Just kind of a race to finish, you know?
So, Brooke, you set up a challenge.
What did you tell them, exactly?
So, the goal of this dish is to highlight the brisket,
but to turn it into an actual composed dish.
And how do you feel about stretching
the boundaries of barbecue?
I love it. It invites some other folks,
different cultures, different taste, different flavors,
different ways to do things.
PADMA: Willow, you gave your smokers away
to all our chefs.
Time is never your friend on Top Chef.
JO: Five minutes!
- Yeah. - Five.
ASHLEIGH: All right y'all, this is it.
[alarm beeping]
- [judges laughing] - GAIL: Nothing's changed.
Hello. How are you doing?
Today, you are having a kitchen pepper rubbed brisket
with sweet potato slicks
and that is in a cream of collard soup,
along with a collard stem relish.
I made scarpinocc, which is a pasta.
It is stuffed with brisket,
topped with burnt ends, cornbread crumble.
It has a "beurre-becue" sauce,
which is kind of like a beurre rouge
made with a North Carolina Gold barbecue sauce.
- Thank you both. - ASHLEIGH: Thank you.
I actually sliced this brisket.
Super, super thick, man.
Boy, it's heavy. I can feel my arteries clogging.
I think it's just really hard to eat Ashleigh's soup.
I think she was trying to highlight the brisket,
but it left it a little bit thicker,
so it's kind of hard to eat.
Gotta use the spoon, fork, knife?
This giant piece of brisket feels like it's drowning.
Do you get any smoke from that brisket?
I'm getting a little smoke.
I'm just finding it under seasoned.
TOM: Mm-hmm.
I really enjoyed eating Jackson's pasta.
I thought he was very restrained and focused in his dish.
I was worried about kind of,
the filling, kind of if you would get the smoke,
especially in the brisket, and he did a good job on it.
It came through.
I think from a challenge perspective,
Jackson took his way of cooking, he made them something new,
and I think it was really successful.
The barbecue sauce was interesting.
JO: Three... two... one... Time.
[alarm beeping]
- Hi, Nick. - Hello.
- What did you make? - Carrot purée.
I have the smoked brisket, over the top is a sauce harissa
with a lot of barbecue notes,
and then you have a pork neck and collard gremolata.
Hey Damarr, what did you make?
Smoked brisket with candied yams, braised cabbage,
there's a Worcestershire consommé,
and a little giardiniera on top.
- PADMA: Thank you both. - NICK: Thank you.
Nick's brisket is cooked really well.
His rub, you can taste the spices and things
that he has in there.
I appreciate that flavor on there
because the rest of the dish kind of doesn't exist to me.
His carrot purée was okay too, but...
All right, I hope I did damn justice.
I hope I made my mama proud.
Damarr's on the other hand, this is fantastic.
I think the broth is really, really flavorful.
I think the sweet potato is nicely cooked.
I like braised cabbage in the dish,
and I think the pickles on top
just kind of pull it all together.
GREG: I thought that it was really, really homey.
[alarm beeping]
- Thank you. - LUKE: How's everybody doing?
PADMA: Pretty well, how are you doing?
Very good.
Hello.
PADMA: Hello. Thank you.
What I have for you today is a brisket
that is served with barbecue sauce
that is based off of onion.
On top, we have a coriander and lime stem salad
with balsamic pickled red onions.
Monique, what did you make?
Smoked brisket with an onion soubise, confit potatoes,
also a bone marrow and honey glaze brioche on the side.
Have either of you done barbecue brisket before?
This was way out of my comfort zone,
but I try to go back to familiar flavors
that I was trained in.
- Thank you both. - Enjoy.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And the horseradish,
I really like that acidity and brightness.
Tom, what do you think of Luke's meat?
I think the flavor's really good.
I mean, the sauce is a little thick,
but I think that's what he's going for. I like it.
I like the texture of the sauce,
the thickness of the sauce that he put down.
I actually love all of his accoutrements.
All right.
What do you think about Monique's brisket, Gail?
I like the soubise that she put it with.
I think it's balanced.
The potatoes are very bland,
and I think her little bun here is a little undercooked.
It felt a little--
TOM: Undercooked and it's not formed properly either.
Yeah.
Better technique, this dish would have been a great dish.
I actually like the flavors,
But from a technical standpoint, you just missed.
That's sad.
♪♪♪
[alarm beeping]
Thank you. It looks nice.
- GREG: Hey there, how are you? - EVELYN: Good.
- Hi. Hi, Jae. Smells great.
My people. Houston community is very small and very tight.
So, just seeing all those pitmasters, their face light up,
they're like, "Holy --it, you're here."
And I'm like, "I know!"
Jae, please tell us what you made.
Today I made a K-Jun,
that's Korean and Cajun style barbecue brisket,
Korea's grits, and cherry tomato kimchi,
and then you have a little Asian pear relish,
and smoked brisket beef stew.
The tomato is excellent.
So, what I've made for you guys today,
it's a Texas style brisket curry.
On the bottom, we have aromatic rice,
we have our slice of brisket, some pickled relish,
fresh scallions, herbs,
and then I did a crumble with roasted pistachios,
fried garlic, and burnt ends.
I know you're a local girl, right?
What does it feel like to cook for all these people?
It feels amazing.
[people cheering and clapping]
- PADMA: Thank you both. - Thank you. Enjoy.
Jae's plate has a ton of flavor.
It feels almost like a Korean banchan
of ingredients that are collected.
So far, Evelyn's dish is one of my favorites.
The curry is bold.
It's got heat, but it doesn't annihilate you.
I really get the aromatics, the lemongrass, the cilantro.
- I think she nailed her dish. - It's delicious.
The spices are smooth, they had been cooked down properly.
I'd tell her to get me a pan, I'd put it in the back,
and just let me go away with it.
I need to... try Evelyn's.
This is a dish that, if you put this on a menu,
this becomes a signature.
Oh definitely, people crave it.
TOM: People come for this. This is like, destination food.
Brisket, I think is fabulous.
Yeah, that brisket was great.
Woo! A lot of emotions.
JO: Four minutes.
[alarm beeping]
That's beautiful.
I would never think to do that to a beet.
Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
So, my dish is a barbecue beef bourguignon.
It's served with a brisket
that's been braised in barbecue sauce,
I actually call it a "barbe-jus".
It's served with a beef fat potato croquette,
caramelized onion jam,
and slow roasted double smoked bacon on top.
Jo?
In front of you, you have a brisket pappardelle.
House made pasta with some brisket
that was smoked with harissa, a little harissa cabbage
over the top, and then some corn in there,
some kale in there as well.
Thank you both so much. Thank you.
JO: All right. That's it.
Let's talk about Jo's dish.
GAIL: For all of the ingredients that Jo talked about,
I'm only tasting one thing,
and I'm not really getting any flavor from it.
I can't explain it.
- There's a word for this. - GAIL: Tell me.
Whelming.
I think it's actually straight up underwhelming.
I tasted the brisket a couple of times,
and it's kind of, "Okay."
The star of the dish, it was kind of lost
'cause we got a couple small pieces in there.
We have our last dish, Buddha's dish,
which I thought looks beautiful with those beet petals.
TOM: This was a beautifully composed dish.
A lot of good technique.
You know, I like that the beat was actually raw.
Yes.
'Cause it gave it some texture, and a little bit acid.
Also, the mushroom flavor came through.
And this dish started out as a beef bourguignon.
That was his concept.
And so, to see him execute it
and to where it ended up on a plate,
I think Buddha did a great job here.
GREG: The brisket was good.
What he came with on the plate was just visually,
I think it was outstanding.
It was a great take on it,
and I got all these little complexities of the flavor
of the beef bourguignon.
A lot of the pitmasters seem to love it.
PADMA: We're going to go take a nap now.
[all laughing]
Well, I want to thank everybody for being here.
I know the chefs were really excited and nervous
to cook for all of you guys.
Thank you for having us here in Texas.
Let's get back to judges' table.
[applause]
♪♪♪
PADMA: Tom, how do you think our chefs did?
You can look at smoking meat as something pretty simple.
You give it a good little rub,
you put it in the oven for a bunch of hours, and let it go.
But we all know there's a ton of variables involved.
But I thought that the meat was,
for the most part, all really good.
GREG: You guys brought us some dishes
that we don't see every day,
and that's what I enjoyed a lot.
Some hit, some missed a little bit,
but they did well.
PADMA: Buddha, Evelyn, and Jackson, please stay here.
Everyone else, please step to the side.
You had our favorite dishes of the night.
Thank God.
Buddha, your concept was a really successful one.
BROOKE: Honestly, when the plate was dropped
in front of me, I looked at it, and I was angry and jealous
that I hadn't thought of that myself.
It's one thing to paint a pretty picture,
but the flavor of this dish lived up to the presentation.
All right. Thanks, Tom.
Well, Evelyn, I'm going to be craving that dish
for a very long time.
I mean, I'm just so proud and excited that
I got to eat this plate of food today.
You made brisket the star
and then all the supporting cast around it
just came together perfectly.
In 19 seasons, all the curries
that have been attempted on this show,
Padma always has issues with them.
PADMA: I had absolutely no issue with your curry.
Where have you been all my life?
This is the curry I've been looking for.
In Houston, apparently.
How did you feel today, Jackson?
- Very nervous. - I was worried too, man.
Everything kind of came together.
I think I got all of that beautiful brisket flavor
from inside of the pasta.
But those little pieces of burnt ends
drove in that it was a brisket dish.
Your pasta was so light, so delicate,
and the pasta to meat ratio, perfect.
Thank you.
PADMA: Brooke, you have the pleasure of telling us
who won this challenge today.
The chef with the winning brisket dish today is...
Evelyn.
Oof!
Finally won, okay? I keep making it to the top,
which is great, but to finally actually get a win,
and then to be the brisket challenge
feels frickin' amazing.
Thank you so much.
Oh, this feels great.
And Padma loved my curry, okay. I need that clip.
Oh, I'm just so proud right now.
Congratulations again, Evelyn and all three of you.
You three can step to the side.
Monique, Ashleigh, and Jo, please step forward.
The three of you had our least favorite dishes,
and one of you will be going home.
♪♪♪
The three of you had our least favorite dishes,
and one of you will be going home.
Let's start with you, Monique.
How do you think your dish came out?
I thought it was just okay.
I'm not really familiar with barbecue,
so I didn't want to try anything super new.
You were kind of playing it safe.
And when you play it safe,
your heart and your soul doesn't come out in that.
The brisket itself was a little bit tough,
and the rest of the dish felt like you weren't confident
to really push yourself.
It's seemed like you put a collection of things
on a plate that didn't talk to each other.
You know and the roll, you're a baker, so I was surprised.
It wasn't-- it wasn't that great.
Okay.
PADMA: Ashleigh, did you feel good about your dish?
I've been very anxious to put myself on a plate,
and so I thought of flavors of home,
like Carolina barbecue,
which is why I incorporated things like creamed corn,
collards, and the sweet potato.
It felt like one dish got dumped into the other,
and it was a mistake.
Did you anticipate that we would need to cut it
- with a knife and fork? - No.
Had that brisket been softer or been cut up into cubes,
it might have eaten differently,
but it didn't do justice to the amount of work
that you spent on that brisket.
PADMA: Jo.
What kind of got me in this challenge
was that I saw that we had time, and I was like,
"Okay, I'll make pasta 'cause I've been wanting to."
I should have highlighted the brisket.
Yes, that's what happened.
It was two different dishes mashed into one.
I didn't get a lot of the flavors
that I know you put in there.
There just wasn't a payoff from all of that work
with your brisket.
- Go with your gut, Jo. - I know.
You knew what you wanted to do.
Go with the brisket. It's the star.
I agree.
PADMA: All right. We'll call you all back in a bit.
Thank you very much. That'll be all for now.
EVELYN: Lord, lordy, lordy.
JACKSON: All right!
EVELYN: Guys, don't even.
JACKSON: Queen curry! Nice job.
BUDDHA: We can't keep you off the top, ----ing Jackson.
Jesus Christ.
- Well. - MONIQUE: Ugh.
Well, here we are again.
These three chefs worked so hard,
but each of them in their own way failed today.
They put so much care into the brisket itself,
and with all three of these chefs,
we really never got to see it.
In Ashleigh's, just the beef was lost.
Collard greens, corn, brisket, beef, it all makes sense.
It's how she chose to compose it.
You start thinking about all this other stuff,
"I gotta do this, I gotta do that."
And then the basics aren't there.
ASHLEIGH: I've definitely fell victim to overthinking.
They read me like a book.
Jo also, I mean that dish--
A professional chef doesn't make a dish like that.
No. Noodles and slow cooked beef can work.
TOM: Oh, yeah.
But there was no way to taste any of that beef in Jo's dish.
It was just kind of like this meaty pasta.
I can smoke a brisket.
I can make a mean pasta, but I was just like,
"Why am I doing this together now?" Ugh, idiot.
Monique's dish to me felt like a culinary student.
Make a sauce Mornay, make this, make this.
Like, things you tick off a list of like,
classic French items you have to master.
It was boring.
She didn't embrace the challenge of the brisket,
and it showed that she lacked the confidence
in the plate itself.
I knew I wasn't inspired. I mean, everything they said.
I was like, "Spot on." You know what I mean? So.
I think we have our answer.
- Agreed. - Definitely.
Let's get them out here.
♪♪♪
We continue for 19 seasons to push chefs
out of their comfort zone.
You can tell when someone is uncomfortable
because you'll get a dish
that doesn't have a strong point of view.
You'll end up with a dish that is tentative
because you're a little confused as to what direction to go,
or you'll end up with a dish
that clearly you're overthinking and trying to do too much.
And unfortunately, this is how it ends for a lot of chefs.
Ashleigh, please pack your knives and go.
Thank you. This has been a really great opportunity.
Listen, we'll see you on Last Chance Kitchen,
and my advice is always cook from your heart.
Thank you. Thank you, chef.
Ugh, this ----ing sucks.
It sucks.
There's always Last Chance Kitchen, right?
I enjoy being thoughtful
and intentional in everything I do,
but I just overthought
and it's very unfortunate for me right now.
I didn't expect that at all.
It's a blow to my confidence,
but I'm ready for the Last Chance Kitchen.
I'm determined to win.
♪♪♪
PADMA: Tonight, Ashleigh's constant overthinking
lands her in Last Chance Kitchen.
Can she simplify her thinking?
I have no idea what I'm making.
And will it be enough
to get her back into the competition?
The winner of this challenge will return to Top Chef.
A two-part Last Chance Kitchen starts now on demand
or wherever you stream Top Chef.
Next time on Top Chef...
Please welcome back the winner of Last Chance Kitchen.
[chefs cheering]
Hey, y'all.
You'll be making a dish in honor
of five trailblazing Texas women.
I never wanted to be known as an Asian chef
or a female chef.
I just wanted to be known as a good chef.
You know, I'm going to work my magic.
- This is-- - Wow.
Amazing.
The confidence was so profound.
That didn't work.
I have to figure this out.
This dish doesn't come through at all.
Trying not to be emotional.
There was some hesitation,
but hesitation is just not strong enough
to continue in the competition.
♪♪♪