November 10, 2009
Ever make fresh ricotta cheese? How about with Stephanie Izard? Last night I had the pleasure of attending a Whole Foods cooking class taught by the Top Chef Season 4 Winner and learned how to make fresh ricotta from scratch and how to incorporate this great cheese into both sweet and savory dishes. A Chicago chef, we cheered her on during her season of Top Chef and have been following every bit of info about her upcoming Chicago restaurant (breaking news about it later in this post).
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August 21, 2009
Many of my friends hate watching cooking shows because they think if they can’t taste the food, what’s the point? Well Wednesday night I had the pleasure and the privilege of tasting appetizers and drinks prepared by Rick Bayless’ team of chefs while watching the finale of Top Chef Masters WITH Rick Bayless at his very own Frontera Grill. Now, of course I watch plenty of cooking shows without all this amazing hullabaloo, but this memory will certainly take the cake! Er, ceviche. Yes, there was ceviche there, and lots of it.
Warning: If you haven’t watched the finale of Top Chef Masters yet, there are spoilers after the jump.
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June 26, 2009
What do a Midwesterner, a Californian, a French guy and a Puerto Rican have in common? They all competed in Episode 3 of Top Chef Masters! In the colorful quickfire, Frenchman Ludo Lefebvre disappointed tasters while Puerto Rican Wilo Benet wowed them. But the game changed when these master chefs had to serve up some awful offal ingredients. Beef heart? Tongue? Pig Ear? No thanks! But Master Chefs like these can make anything seem appealing…
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June 19, 2009
In episode 1 of Top Chef Masters, chefs were restricted to hot plates, microwaves and less-than-ideal cooking conditions. In this past episode, chefs were limited by their ingredients instead, having to utilize vending machine items in the quickfire and some less-than-traditional ingredients such as wild boar, papaya and exotic fish in the elimination challenge. The episode was inspired by the ABC television series “Lost,” a show about being stranded on an island. And seeing as how the judges chose the dish with the largest quantity of food as the winner - it seems they too were experiencing the hunger from being stranded on a desert island.
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June 11, 2009
In this first episode of Top Chef Masters, the difference came down to dessert, which was actually served at the beginning of the episode during the Quickfire. You see, Top Chef Masters works a little differently than the regular Top Chef - there are only four chefs in each episode (master chefs, mind you) competing for a spot in the finals. And in order to determine who is most deserving of that spot - a cumulative measure of stars awarded by judges and tasters throughout the quickfire and the elimination challenge is taken. So with that said, the winner of this episode won based on their quickfire performance.
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June 8, 2009
Our favorite foodie show is back! And this time things are going to be a little different. Instead of small time chefs competing against eachother to become Top Chef, this time we’re watching the best of the best. Hailing from famous and popular restaurants all throughout the United States, these competitors are anything but amateur. Even the judging panel will be different! No more Padma and Tom Colicchio; the fate of these Top Chef Masters contestants is in the hands of Host Kelly Choi, Judge Gael Greene, Judge Jay Rayner and Judge James Osland. Top Chef Masters premieres this Wednesday, June 10th at 10/9 CST. Won’t get a chance to watch? Tune in to Chew on That on Thursday for coverage of the first episode!
Catch all our past and future Top Chef coverage on our Top Chef Watch page!
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