Latest news with #QuickfireChallenge
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef' tearful elimination in Milan determines the chefs moving on to the Season 22 finale
We reached a big location change for Top Chef, with the remaining four competitors landing in Milan, Italy. They met host Kristen Kish near the famous Duomo di Milano, where this week's competition started with a Quickfire Challenge. The chefs had to present their own version of a risotto dish in 35 minutes and there was $15,000 up for grabs for the winner. But the challenge was not being taken into account to determine who moves through to the finale. Tristen won the challenge making a West African risotto with heirloom tomatoes and charred buttered greens. Moving on to the elimination challenge, Kirsh introduced the three-part heat-to-head tournament, with the chefs tasked with featuring ingredients from Milan, Cortina and places in between. Round 1 was centred around polenta and the winner of that round automatically secures their spot in the finale. The three remaining chefs compete in the next round, focused on beet dishes, and the winner of that round moves on to the finale. Finally, the remaining two chefs move on to the third round of cooking, presenting a dish with gorgonzola cheese. Four Olympians and Paralympians joined Top Chef in Milan. Elana Meyers Taylor, five-time U.S. Olympic medalist in bobsled, Red Gerard, U.S. Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding, Declan Farmer, three-time Paralympic gold medalist in sled hockey, and Oksana Masters, 19-time U.S. Paralympic medalist in para biathlon, para cross-country skiing, para cycling and para rowing. Joining the judges panel was Ali Ghzawi from Top Chef World All Stars, and chef and owner of Alee, and Andrea Aprea, chef and owner of Andrea Aprea Ristorante Milano. Round 1 dishes were as follows: Tristen — Cou cou with pwason nan sos and epis-marinated mackerel César — Polenta cake with black walnut ice cream and candied prosciutto Shuai — Five-spice roast duck on creamy polenta Bailey — Creamy polenta with roaster mushrooms, hazelnuts and herbs Each judge held a paddle for the polenta dish they liked the best. Tristen and César each got one vote, Bailey got two votes and Shuai won with three votes, securing his spot in the finale. Ali said it was brilliant and the polenta really stood out. Tom Colicchio said the duck was beautifully cooked. Moving on to the second round, the chef had to complete their beet dishes in 30 minutes, while Shuai got to watch his competitors cook. Tristen — Glazed beets, smoked beet purée, beet pikliz and pork belly César — Beet tostada with chipotle mayo and salsa verde Bailey — Grilled beets with brown butter caper vinaigrette and whipped ricotta At the end of that round, Tristen got a whopping six votes, with César getting three votes for the best dish, and Bailey couldn't get any votes. Kristen said Tristen's dish was "technically flawless," while Tom said Bailey's big flaw was the dish was more cheese forward than beet forward. In the final round to get a spot in the finale, Bailey and César had 30 minutes to make a gorgonzola dish. César — Butternut squash casserole with gorgonzola sauce and sage pesto Bailey — Polenta gratinata with brûléed gorgonzola And in the final deliberation, César was eliminated from the competition. Tom said Bailey's dish was more "focused" on the gorgonzola, which pushed her ahead. And that takes us to the final cook of Top Chef Season 22.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef': Big loss for Canadians just before the competition moves to Italy for the final
Lana's elimination in last week's episode of Top Chef Season 22 was certainly felt by the remaining chefs. But the competition must go on and this week, the chefs received mystery bags with foraging gear. It was exciting for some, an intimidating unknown challenge for others. As the chefs headed to Quarry Lake in Alberta, they met up with host Kristen Kish, who announced that there wouldn't be a Quickfire Challenge. Additionally, this is the last Elimination Challenge in Canada. Brenda Holder, Cree knowledge keeper of traditional medicine owner, Mahikan Trails, was on site to tell the chefs about her family's lineage of people who survived on the land. And Tracy Little, chef and owner of Sauvage restaurant, and master forager, also greeted the competitors. Each chef had to create a dish using foraged ingredients, with Brenda and Tracy there to assist. They also had $200 to shop for remaining ingredients and there was an additional pantry of foraged ingredients. For Massimo, who won last week's challenge, he had an additional 30 minutes to cook. There was also $10,000 up for grabs for the winner. Joining the judges table this week, Nicole Gomes, chef and co-founder of Cluck n Cleaver, Paul Rogalski, chef and co-owner of Rouge restaurant and co-host of Wild Harvest, Scott Iserhoff, chef and founder of Pei Pei Chei Ow, and Indigenous herbalist Matricia Bauer. The dishes each chef made, and the feedback from the judges, was as follows: Tristen — "OG Jerk" pork, plantain miso glaze, Quarry Lake callaloo and coal roasted roots — Brenda liked that she could really taste the land in the dish, Gail Simmons loved the sweetness in the sauce and the balance with the pork and greens César — Mushroom trompo, mushroom pibil broth and toasted ants — Scott loved the soup, Kristen said the dish was "completely dialled in" Bailey — Lamb spiedino with grilled dandelion salad, "cowtown" cowpeas and thistle root purée — Brenda loved the lamb, Nicole said the peas were a little too crunchy Shuai — Roasted cabbage with rose hip-glazed pork belly, sour cabbage broth, lovage and thatching ant togarashi — Scott highlighted how much flavour was in the dish, Brenda loved how nicely the flavours played together, Gail said it was "excellent" and Tom Colicchio was "absolutely loving it" Massimo — Grilled trout with mustard sauce, smoked potato purée and bannock with wildflowers — Gail said the bannock felt very "intense," Nicole said it was a very "elegant" dish Shuai won the Elimination Challenge, securing his spot in the final in Milan and receiving $10,000. But Massimo, the one Canadian chef in the competition, didn't get the chance to leave the country, eliminated from the competition. And so the "Destination Canada" season of the show continues, without a Canadian chef.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef' will move from Canada to Italy for the Season 22 finale, Kristen Kish announces in Calgary
Top Chef Season 22 moved to a different Canadian city this week, with the competitors making the journey from Toronto to the Alberta city of Calgary. As the chefs stood together at the city's Olympic Plaza, Kristen Kish announced the upcoming finale will take place in Milan, Italy. Maybe an odd choice for a season technically called Top Chef: Destination Canada, but the chefs were excited. A guest judge this week was Connie Desousa, chef at Charcut in Calgary. The Top Chef Canada finalist stood with the judges, including Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, to announce the Quickfire Challenge, inspired by the Calgary Stampede. The chefs were given 45 minutes to create their own handheld pancake breakfast to feed 50 diners. There was $10,000 up for grabs for the Quickfire Challenge winner, which was Shuai, who made a cornmeal pancake with scrambled eggs, lap cheong, cheddar and chili crisp avocado aioli. Moving into the Elimination Challenge, chef Denia Baltzer, chef and owner of Creative Cuisine Catering, and member of the Łııdlı̨ı̨ Kųę First Nation, greeted the competitors and provided more details about the Stampede. Specifically its history of being an event where ranchers and First Nations people come together. Kristen explained that the Elimination Challenge would be centred around two ingredients, one from each of these communities, beef and berries. The chefs got to decide amongst themselves which cut of beef they would use, and drew knives for the type of berry. With Shuai being the winner of the Quickfire Challenge, he was given three hours to cook, while the rest of the chefs had two hours. Much like we've seen throughout the season, there weren't any significant cooking disasters during this Elimination Challenge, before the chefs brought their dishes to the judges table, which included Paul Roglaski, chef and co-owner of Rogue restaurant and co-host of Wild Harvest. The dishes made by each chef and the judges feedback went as follows: Lana — Grilled New York strip steak with pommes anna, haskap berry condiment and smoked haskap berry jus — Connie loved the sauce and the savoury element of the condiment, but Denia wanted to see more berry, Kristen found the sage overpowering, Gail found the potato too dry, and Tom said the meat was over-rested, cooked too early Massimo — Tenderloin with umeboshi, pickled elderberry sauce, smoked kohlrabi and elderberry soup purée — Gail called the dish a "showstopper," Kristen said the beef was cooked beautifully Bailey — Saskatoon braised beef cheek, creamy polenta, brûléed blue cheese and roasted walnut — Gail said the brûléed blue cheese threw her off, with Tom questioning the decision as well, while Denia said the Saskatoon berry flavour got lost in the sauce Tristen — Alberta flat iron with kohlrabi, gooseberries and bone marrow pemmican — Tom said there was a ton of flavour, Kristen loved that the gooseberries reminded her of sour candies, but Gail identified that her steak wasn't cooked properly César — Grilled ribeye, chokeberry reduction, rutabaga cream and bone marrow cornbread — Gail said everything on her plate was cooked perfectly, but all the chefs criticized the lack of tartness from the berries Shuai — Mama Wang's stuffed cabbage with braised short rib, wild rice congee and black currant black pepper sauce — Connie loved it and said it reminded her of a dish her mother makes, Tom said the beef was rich and the congee was also rich, but it was flavourful, and Gail loved the tartness from the black currents The winning chef was Canadian Massimo, who will get an advantage next week, while Lana was eliminated from the competition.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef' judges call out 'ridiculous' Quickfire Challenge that was maybe misplaced in the competition
While Top Chef contestants have impressive culinary skill and sophisticated palates, sometimes on the show they're put into outrageous cooking situation, which was very much the case in this week's Quickfire Challenge. In the dépanneur challenge, the chefs has to make a dish only using items from the Top Chef dépanneur, cooking exclusively with the electrical cooking equipment in the Top Chef pantry and disposable utensils. The challenge was inspired by Top Chef guest, comedian Punkie Johnson, who started cooking in her dressing room on set. But the judges were very aware of how "ridiculous" the challenge was. "The thing I appreciated the most is that all the chefs leaned into the fun, what else are you supposed to do in a scenario like this? Make something that's edible, have a good time," Kristen Kish told Yahoo Canada on the set of Top Chef in Toronto last year. "And really, for the most part, it wasn't the best showing of all the food they made, sure, and I would hope it wouldn't be, ... but they all embraced it, and they all made something. ... Nothing was not edible." "I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't ridiculous. ... But here's the thing, ... as a chef, we're used to eating late night, convenient style. So it might not be the food that we cook, but it's certainly something that we know what it tastes like. It's not like it was something off in a faraway land." But actually, judge Tom Colicchio believed that this is a challenge that was placed at the wrong time in the competition. "This was a challenge we should have done earlier in the season," Colicchio said. "Especially at this point ... where we're factoring in Quickfire and Elimination challenges. "This was a tough one for me. .. I think the challenges should be challenging, but we should always find an avenue where we're going to get a really good [food]. ... Some of these shows where it's like, you've got pasta ... and jelly beans, what does that do? No one would ever do that. ... But I think the biggest problem is they couldn't use a knife." Looking at Season 22 as a whole, Colicchio identified that the chefs are more "consistent" than he's seen in previous seasons of the show. "Sometimes this kitchen, this competition, is not for everyone," he said. "There's been a lot fewer lows and a lot more highs. There have been some extraordinary things, just things that are just out of left field, really good." This week's episode also marked the return of César to the competition after being eliminated last week, but surviving Last Chance Kitchen. "There was a pickle challenge and he had a bread and butter pickle tart, like lemon curd tart, with ice cream. ... It was fantastic. It was sensational," Colicchio highlighted. "But there are times when [the chefs] do something doesn't work." "There's always one or two ingredients that he puts in there that you kind of question sometimes." Looking at mistakes that chefs generally make on the show, Colicchio stressed that sometimes they try to give themselves too many option. "They go and get a bunch of stuff so they have options, the thing about having options is that you don't know which lane to choose, and you're able to go back and forth maybe too much," he said. "I think, go and get a few things, focus and cook. ... It's always that one extra thing that ruins a dish." In this week's Elimination Challenge, the chefs had to create dishes using sustainably grown Montreal rooftop ingredients, and only using the items left over in the Top Chef pantry. The dishes had to transport the judges into one of the four weather seasons. The winning chef was Shuai, who made a "last bowl of hot pot" with squash, sweet potato dumplings, fried enoki mushrooms and mushroom dashi, representing winter. Unfortunately for Vinny, he was eliminated from the competition. He made a lamb dumpling with morel mushroom consommé, enoki mushrooms and english peas, meant to represent spring. Canadian judge Gail Simmons said there was an "aggressiveness" to the consommé that overpowered the dish, and both Simmons and Colicchio were missing the radishes on their plates.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Top Chef' recap, Season 22 Episode 5: Double elimination after competitors stepped into Toronto kitchens
In last week's episode of Top Chef Season 22 (Top Chef: Destination Canada), we found out that after Last Chance Kitchen, either Zubair or Bailey would return to the main competition. Making that the big question mark heading into Episode 5. Bailey was the chef who joined the rest of the competitors, with everyone noticing a change in her demeanour. She had a renewed focus and returned ready to take on the competition. But the surprises didn't end there. Kristen and Gail revealed to the chefs that there wouldn't be a Quickfire Challenge this week. Instead, they were tasked with venturing out to Toronto's neighbourhoods to work in different restaurants. The chefs had to draw knives to determine what cuisine they would be experiencing. Greek (Tristen and Bailey at Soulas), Indian (Vinny and Lana at Dil Se), Filipino (Henry and Shuai at BB's), Thai (Katianna and César and Kiin), Portuguese (Kat and Corwin at Mercado ) and Caribbean (Paula and Massimo at Miss Likklemore's). Kristen stressed that cooking in these restaurants and learning from these local chefs was very important, because it was a double elimination episode, with both people in a team going home. The Elimination Challenge required the chefs to make a dish inspired by what they learned on the line at their respective Toronto restaurant. The chefs had to serve 150 guests at The Bentway, in addition to the judges. This week, Top Chef alum Sara Bradley joined the judges panel. Due to Tristen's win last week, he had immunity, along with his partner Bailey. Overall, things were pretty tame in each team. The biggest setback was really for Kat and Corwin, because the Whole Foods where the chefs do their shopping didn't have salted cod. The dishes each team created, and judges feedback, were as follows: Paula & Massimo — Braised short rib with grilled flatbread, escabeche with sweet plantain vinegar — Tom said it was a little dry and Gail said she was missing the acidity Kat & Corwin — Cod and shrimp bomba with saffron aioli, smoked roe, piri piri and pickles — Sarah liked the big pickles, but all the judges were in agreement that the texture was too wet Katianna & César — Pad Thai glazed tenderloin, pickled mushrooms and butterfly pea flower pickles — Sarah said it was a little sweet, but Tom added that there was still a nice heat, and Gail highlighted that there was a lot of "variation of flavour" Lana & Vinny — Chicken Kamasutra with curry hollandaise, chicken skin and flatbread — Sarah said the curry hollandaise didn't pack as much of a punch as they wanted and Tom said the hollandaise just wasn't necessary Henry & Shuai — Arroz caldo with roaster pork kare-kare, fermented pickles and bagoóng xo sauce — Gail and Tom said the meat was a little overcooked Bailey & Tristen — Grilled octopus with kalamata caramel glaze and charred green olive honey relish — Sarah said the octopus was cooked well, Gail said there was a nice sweet and saltiness Tristen and Bailey, and Katianna & César had the favourite dishes of the day. Tristen and Bailey were the winners, meaning they were awarded back-to-back immunity. Kat and Corwin, and Lana and Vinny, were up for elimination, but ultimately Kat and Corwin were eliminated, having to move to Last Chance Kitchen.
