***You can hear more on the latest Top Chef episode Thursday night on WTMJ’s What’s on Tap!
TOP CHEF TAKEAWAY – Cooking With Danger
Flames! Knives! Swearing! How did Wisconsin look in this action-packed episode of Top Chef? Is Milwaukee Cheftestant Dan Jacobs still in the competition?
Two very Wisconsin traditions were the foundations for each of the COMPETITIONS.
Quickfire Challenge: A Meat Raffle!
Upon announcement of the theme, Milwaukee cheftestant Dan Jacobs laughingly said, “Oh, s**t” (yes, bleeped on Bravo). He also said it was a “super ‘Sconnie” thing. The cheftestants were selected in random order to choose a meat they wanted to work with ranging from Chef Dan Jacobs’ early choice of chateaubriand (think filet mignon) to lunch meat (basically Spam) for the cheftestant left to choose last. The pressure is getting stronger with only six competitors left and there was a significant amount of swearing during this challenge as the time was running out.
Elimination Competition: Fish Boil!
The cheftestants were instructed to change into comfy clothes after the Quickfire Challenge and “meet out back”. I’ve learned that the Top Chef Kitchen was a warehouse in Oak Creek, so I’m assuming they’re outside of that warehouse in a lawn area for the reveal and demonstration of…. the Fish Boil! The process was described of this traditional preparation of putting veggies and seasonings in a big vat then kicking up the heat with a cup of kerosene thrown on the open fire to boil the whitefish for eight minutes to finish the cooking. The assignment was to create your own fish boil with two sides.
“Torch” (see Guests below) demonstrates the kerosene method and everyone applauds and is candidly, pretty stunned. Judge Gail Simmons laughs, “That’s insane.”
Six Top Chef alumni were introduced and each was paired briefly with a cheftestant who, after a chat about their vision for their take on a Fish Boil, the alumnus went shopping FOR the cheftestant based on the conversation and additional intuition for other cooking ingredients. Those purchased ingredients were delivered to the beach on the day of the competition instead of knowing what they were in advance. Then, it’s 2.5 hours to create your fish boil and serve it up to the judges and 100 other diners on the beach to get the win.
What did we see of Wisconsin?
+ Product placement of a bag of Fortune Favors nuts, a Madison company
+ Grant Park Beach in South Milwaukee was the location of the cooking and serving of the Elimination Competition Fish Boil. Lake Michigan was a bright, beautiful blue and the sand looked nearly Cancun white.
+ Milwaukee locations like the ornate Grain Exchange Building, the Court House, The Avenue, the Chase Building atrium lobby, the Riverwalk including kayakers on the Milwaukee River, the North Point Water Tower, the Hoan Bridge lit in rainbow colors at night, and the city skyline.
+ Whole Foods on the East Side.
WHO WAS IN THIS EPISODE?
A Master Boiler!
+ Nicknamed “Torch”, Jeremy Klaubauf, renowned from Ephraim’s The Old Post Office Restaurant. Fascinating to watch! A showman with his speedy dousing of kerosene to make that magic moment of a massive explosion of flames to create the heat for the fish boil. An impressive and dang dangerous profession, friends.
Guest Judge:
+ Two time James Beard Award winner and previously Oprah’s personal chef, Art Smith, dressed in white pants, a white shirt, red blazer and red-framed glasses. Cheftestant Michelle described him as “like a fancy Santa Claus full of food knowledge”.
Guest Shoppers for the Elimination Challenge were six Top Chef alumni who also dined:
+ Chef Justin Sutherland (Minnesota). With a bit of his shopping budget, he considerately bought his paired cheftestant, Danny (not Dan J.) a bath bomb (ah, another explosive angle to this episode) since he knew Danny would be sweating all day cooking on the beach. Justin also bought himself a nice smelling candle – LOL
+ Chef Sara Bradley (Kentucky)
+ Chef Mei Lin (California) + Chef Shota Nakajima (Washington)
+ Chef Gregory Gourdet (Washington)
+ Chef Jeremy Ford (Florida). Paired with Chef Dan Jacobs.
Chef Dan Jacobs Moments:
+ As excited about he is about Meat Raffles, Dan is the polar opposite about Fish Boils. Among his quotes, “it’s just not my thing”, “it goes against everything” that he stands for as a chef by having so much left to chance and boiling whitefish. He explained that it was his first job in the restaurant business in Door County, not fond memories it seems.
+ Awkward moment when Torch HEARD Dan hating on fish boils. Cheftestant Danny brought it to Dan’s attention and Dan was embarrassed.
+ After the Elimination Challenge, Dan remains unconvinced that a fish boil is a great thing. He hated the challenge and saidy “This was tough.” “This was no joke.” “hard physically”
+ Beach conditions of heat, wind and sand everywhere added to the time challenge. Sand made it particularly difficult for Dan to repeatedly drag wood to the fire for his fish boil. After one of the drags, he chugged an entire bottle of water and then burped.
+ SPOILER: Chef Dan did NOT pack his knives. We get to cheer him on another week.
+ BONUS: Chef Dan has a Summerfest announcement in this video!
DRAMATIC MOMENTS
+ Cheftestant Savannah sliced her hand open deboning a fish at the beginning of her preparations. It made me pull back in my seat and weirded me out a bit. She was TOUGH. She said, “Medic” and was in pain while bleeding pretty profusely. She tossed out the fish she had been cutting and said “F*** this fish” which got a sympathetic laugh at the watch party. Despite being incredibly distracted, she finished her fish boil – THEN went to Urgent Care, returning with stitches describing that she’d “really stabbed herself”.
+ Six flaming fish boils is fun to watch, but seeing Torch scamper every time reminds you that it is a column of flame he’s creating with that kerosene toss. The beach was windy and hot already.
+ The first fish boil sent thick black smoke right into the cooking area of at least two of the cheftestants. THAT would suck.
+ Chef Tom Coliccio has made it clear that at this point in the competition, there is no playing it safe and he wants to see creativity from the cheftestants.
Next week’s Wisconsin elements: Not sure how much we’ll see of Wisconsin. The Elimination Challenge is to serve a meal on an actual tabletop. Not a plate, not a bowl. Literally on the table.
$10,000 for Chef Dan?
Maybe, if you vote.
Bravo promoted a #TopChef Fan Favorite voting web site that you can vote weekly and the Fave will win $10,000. Yep, I voted for Chef Dan Jacobs. You can, too, here: https://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/fan-favorite
Top Chef: Wisconsin airs Wednesdays at 8 P.M. on Bravo!, then streams on Peacock. The series finale will air in mid-June.
Click the player above to hear the full recap conversations on Wisconsin’s Morning News, Spanning The State and What’s On Tap.
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