KRISTEN: Previously on Top Chef...
Hey, bitches.
[cheering]
Surprise. This is Soo.
He fought his way through Last Chance Kitchen with me.
- RASIKA: Nice to meet you. - Hi.
I love when sh-- gets shaken up.
Matty, what's on the menu for the next Elimination Challenge?
Absolute chaos.
KRISTEN: We want to see dishes that break the mold
of culinary convention.
Is everyone ready for some chaos or what?
Chaos, chaos, chaos.
He made fun of me for putting mustard greens on the dessert.
I'm gonna do it again and make it make sense.
- You'll get him. - Make it make sense.
GAIL: That is so good.
- She did it. - That's nice.
RASIKA: That looks beautiful, Danny.
Danny's dish is just technical. It is luscious.
MATTY: To make that mousse out of the scallops,
it is like silken tofu.
I'm doing a test run on my arayes.
These are very muted, very expected flavors.
I took one bite and then I stopped eating.
I'm wrapping my eggplant with crab in it.
There is no flavor whatsoever, which is wild.
And the winning chef is Danny.
Rasika, please pack your knives and go.
Give me a hug. Damn.
KRISTEN: Ten 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 Springwater,
and the title of Top Chef.
♪
It feels weird not having Rasika here.
I know.
I felt like I was going home. Being on the bottom is tough.
It's a kick in the ass, isn't it?
- It's a kick in the ass. - Yeah.
It doesn't matter what you did today before.
It's a new day to impress the judges.
DAN: Oh, it's going in.
SOO: Oh!
The last couple of days have been crazy.
I'm sure you guys have had a lot more of that since
you guys have been here for a lot longer.
DAN: It's bizarre that you get used to it.
I don't think I want to, but...
Prior to being a chef, I was a professional golfer.
I've been playing ever since I was little.
I was even on the PGA Tour of Latin America.
When I was 27, I decided to retire
from the professional golf career.
Ah!
DAN: The challenges are tough, but I just keep it simple,
you know, visualize it.
- Just like putting. - Just like putting, baby.
Oh, he's got it.
Ah!
Oh, boy.
- Oh, sh-- - Holy sh--.
- Good morning, chefs. - Good morning.
Please give a big, warm welcome to Top Chef Master
and Top Chef All-Star, Bryan Voltaggio.
Good morning, chefs.
It's great to be back here in the Top Chef kitchen.
I'm just glad I'm the one who's not doing the cooking.
MANNY: He has done it not once,
not twice, but three times.
So, I know he's definitely crazy.
Who's ready to burn the competition?
Hm. Intrigue.
Who here does the dishes at home?
Oh, all but Savannah.
I cook most of the food, so, you know, like...
As chefs, we burn through many pots and pans,
whether that be intentional or unintentional.
Our friends at Finish Ultimate can tackle those
torture test conditions, even without a pre-rinse.
For today's Quickfire Challenge, you all are gonna put
the pots and pans in this kitchen to the test,
because we want you to make us a flambé dish.
You'll have just 20 minutes.
- That's just mean. - I know.
But I love it.
Twenty minutes, man. I mean, I suck at Quickfires.
I might as well just pack my knives and sit this one out.
And there's one more thing.
Oh, God. Of course.
There's $10,000 up for grabs.
- Ah! - Holy sh--. Okay.
Well, you know what?
I might as well stick around and see what I can throw together.
- All right, chefs, you fired up? - Yeah.
Well, that's good, because your time starts now.
Okay. Forgot about that part.
I'll share with you.
Behind.
Manny, almost just took me out.
DANNY: Woo! I'm coming for that money, y'all.
$10,000 is definitely not something to sneeze at.
My wife, Samae, and I are looking into buying a home,
so I'm definitely gonna move a little bit faster than normal.
What's going on, my shrimp buddy?
- You're gonna flambé shrimp? - KEVIN: Yep.
DANNY: I'm grilling shrimp.
I'm gonna make a little orange jump-off.
Hopefully, it's not too spicy.
I'm using Mezcal.
I think the smokiness
is gonna work really nicely with the flambé-ness.
LAURA: Hey, Soo, what are you thinking?
SOO: Like a toasted brioche, some whipped creme fraiche,
caramelized bananas, and then a fish sauce caramel on top.
That sounds like a good idea.
SOO: I'm out. Woo!
Twenty minutes, y'all. This is gonna go quick.
You have barely enough time
to get your mise en place on your station.
AMANDA: What's your strategy for the flambé?
KALEENA: Just to make sure I use enough of the alcohol
so that you can taste it, but not to use too much
so it just tastes like alcohol.
I'm actually gonna do like a kimchi-flavored donut
with a peach and chili flambé.
LAURA: Fifteen minutes.
Yeah!
I'm gonna do a play on baked Hawaii.
That's incredible. If you pull it off, you win.
That's the plan.
I have flambéed from time to time.
I'm gonna caramelize mangoes with some of this booze.
The goal is to add caramelization through
the burning process, but also to reduce
the content of the alcohol.
Flame on.
My plan is to flambé almost everything in this dish.
The outside of the meringue is going to be flambéed as well.
Also, it looks cool.
I don't know if this is gonna work.
I'm gonna try and throw some sh-- together
and hope for the best.
Behind, behind. Mushrooms, bacon, toast, liquor.
Some of my favorite things.
I can't let this Quickfire go up in smoke. I want money bad.
You know, I took a chance with starting my own company,
and Between Sandwich Company is on hold until I get back.
It doesn't operate without me.
As big of a risk that is,
I'm hoping that the reward will be just as big.
Flambé. Hopefully.
Yeah. Let's go.
Flambé, flambé, flambé.
MICHELLE: We got 10 minutes.
DANNY: Let's go, Kevin.
You sound like you need a day on the track, bro.
Move.
I love the fire. A little pyro man over here.
Flambé over here.
It's like my to-go.
We're going to have some people over at home
with nice sauce vierge, yeah.
Delicious.
My strategy here is to get some onions
and garlic sauteing over here.
Flambé it with some Pernod.
I just want to get something on the plate that I'm not
embarrassed to put in front of Bryan Voltaggio.
Chefs, you got five minutes.
- CHEFS: Five. - KRISTEN: Smell that burnage.
I'm cooking my, basically, like, French toast.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Michelle.
We got a minute and a half, y'all. Minute and a half.
Minute and a half.
Grilled and fresh vegetables.
It actually doesn't sound terrible.
DANNY: Oh, you took the bowls I wanted. Ah.
KEVIN: Not fast enough, marathon man.
- Thirty seconds. - LAURA: Thirty seconds.
- Oh, my God. - Let's go.
Give me time, give me time, give me time.
Eight, eight seconds.
Come on, Manny. Come on, Manny. Two, two, two.
There you go.
Time's up and utensils are down.
That was----ing crazy.
Kevin. Thank you.
KEVIN: I made a grilled shrimp flambé au pastis,
fennel potato puree.
I love the texture of the potato and the fennel puree.
It's got a good viscosity. Presentation was beautiful.
Thank you, Chef.
Soo. What'd you make for us?
On the bottom, a little bit of toasted brioche,
brûléed bananas,
took some bourbon, flambéed it,
added a little bit of fish sauce,
made a caramel with that on the outside.
So, I made a pan-roasted sea bass, flambéed in vermouth.
On the side, I have radicchio
with a little bit of apples in it.
I have sauteed mushrooms, mezcal,
flambé, finished with marsala and mushroom demi
with a ricotta and a pecorino Romano on toast.
It's really classic pairing with mushrooms.
I do it all the time at home, I love it.
KRISTEN: What do we have?
I wanted to do a take on a saganaki,
on top of toasted white bread.
The sauce on top is fresh fig and dashi
with pomegranate molasses.
And I used brandy when I was flambéing the cheese.
I did a kimchi and scallion donut.
I flambéed some peaches and jalapeno in some bourbon.
Danny. Thank you.
Kind of a play on an aguachile.
Did some grilled prawns with satsuma and habanero sauce.
Flambéed mezcal into the sauce.
The surprising part is I do get the smokiness from the mezcal.
- Thanks, Chef. - KRISTEN: Amanda.
I made a play on baked Hawaii.
I made a French toast out of brioche
that's coconut and lime flavored.
And then I caramelized mango with cachaça and flambé.
And lime, coconut, and vanilla meringue on top,
and that's also flambéed.
- Almond extract in the cake? - Yes.
I have a grilled radicchio and a cucumber salad with apples,
garlic, ground cherry, and Pernod emulsion.
- Have you made this before? - Hell no.
Okay.
You have a flambéed mushroom and bacon toast,
sweet potato puree, and an herbed goat cheese.
- Which alcohol did you use? - Bourbon.
- Great. Thank you, Michelle. - Thank you.
All right, Chefs.
Normally, this is where we tell you who did well and who didn't.
I don't think we're done just yet.
- Jesus Christ. - KRISTEN: What do you think?
Nah.
Last time I checked, this is the ultimate Quickfire Challenge.
Come on.
Oh, sh--.
To win this Quickfire,
the three chefs who had our favorite dishes
will have to cook again.
MICHELLE: Earn that 10K.
But since we're making you work twice as hard,
the winning chef will get twice the prize.
- Oh, my God. - [bleep]
KRISTEN: So, that's $20,000.
Shut up.
I want to cook for the 20 grand.
That's crazy.
Bryan, who do you think had our three favorite dishes?
Danny, your aguachile just really stood out.
The use of the mezcal.
You got the smokiness from it,
but it wasn't overpowering the dish.
- It was really beautiful. - Thank you.
Amanda, the baked Hawaii.
Always looking for that perfect bite.
A little bit of the fruit, a little bit of the toast,
a little bit of the meringue.
- Job well done. - Thank you so much.
And Kevin.
I think texturally speaking, it was my favorite.
Thank you, Chef.
Let's go.
You three had to use fire to make your flambé dish.
Now, we want to see how you can use fire to highlight
a different technique and give us the perfect char.
Oh, cool. Great.
You'll have 20 minutes on the clock,
and your time starts now.
Go, go, go.
I want to do a simple charred piece of fish
that's cooked perfectly.
Are you kidding me?
It's not like filleted. It's whole fish.
It's just these two whole Branzino that are not scaled.
Fins are on. But I only need two sides.
Gonna do a grilled Branzino with a Poblano mole.
Not really a mole, but something.
AMANDA: Wish my hands weren't shaking like crazy.
You got this, Amanda. You got this.
Thank you, girl. I'm gonna do a grilled pork chop.
I actually really like charring.
Char is a light caramelization on vegetable
or protein without it going too far.
That's when it's burnt.
- Oh, it's veal. - Veal chop. Veal chop.
Girl, you crazy as hell. You're cooking veal in 20 minutes?
I'm trying.
- There you go. - Got some char.
- Fifteen minutes. - I'm stressed out watching this.
- Kevin. What are you up to? - Hey, buddy.
I'm making a green curry squab.
What's going on, chefs?
How are they doing? Crushing it?
Well, look at that.
Watching him break down that squab. Oh, my goodness.
I think I would enter the kitchen with ten fingers
and left with seven.
Let's go!
I am speechless.
Right now, I'm making like a yogurt green curry.
My kind of food is very subtle,
so I don't want charred everything in my plate.
I really want to show Bryan and Kristen something
technical and show them it can work.
LAURA: Twelve minutes left.
What?
AMANDA: I'm gonna die after this.
Have it, have it, have it. Behind, behind, behind.
Those morning runs are paying off, boy.
BRYAN: Oh, is he a runner?
- Yeah, every morning. - Oh, is he? That's cool.
Is anybody else sweating like this?
Oh, yeah.
I think Amanda's glasses are like right here on her nose.
Let's go. I'm schvitzing right now.
The Branzino skin here is the focal point
and the most important part, and so having a wire rack off
of the grill is gonna create texture on that skin.
Smart!
KEVIN: I make a green curry yogurt sauce
because you have a deep, intense flavor of charredness,
you want to add like some freshness on the side.
Everything is about balance.
I'm charring my curry paste on my squab.
This is so intense right now. Like, I want this so, so badly.
I really want to take a trip in France.
It's been six years since I saw my family.
I'm fighting right now for that.
I'm refraining from dipping my finger in everything right now.
ing grilling avocado one slice at a time.
Like, he's good.
- AMANDA: Oh, no! - BRYAN: Amanda has a pork chop.
- A veal chop. - Oh, it's veal.
That's a veal chop.
Two minutes and twenty-two seconds.
Down, down, down, down, down.
AMANDA: Okay, baby, let's go.
I'm happy with the char that I got on this.
Just got to keep it simple.
Here's my almond. Just toasted.
CHEFS: Five, four, three, two, one.
KRISTEN: Time's up. Utensils down.
That was fun.
Nicely done, Chefs.
Thank you.
Wow.
Everyone's like a little winded.
Yeah.
Kevin, tell us about your dish.
So, I made like a green curry yogurt sauce.
Squab breast, panko-fried squab legs, and toasted almonds.
KRISTEN: So, the char is just on the breast itself?
KEVIN: It's on the breast, yeah.
KRISTEN: Amanda.
I made a grilled glazed veal chop
with a grilled and charred corn relish
and grilled peach pickles to sweeten it up.
Did you lacquer the veal with anything?
Yes, it's a sweet soy glaze that has doenjang in it.
KRISTEN: Danny.
DANNY: I have charred grilled Branzino
with charred poblano puree
and a little charred avocado for some creaminess.
BRYAN: I think overall,
the chefs did a really great job with the challenge.
The flavors are really good. Job well done.
Thank you, Chef.
KRISTEN: So, what do you think of Danny's dish?
BRYAN: The cook on the fish was done really, really well.
The skin was crispy.
I love the fact that you also finished it
- with a charred avocado. - Thank you.
Kevin, your dish also was really well executed.
I thought the squab was cooked really well.
I just wish there was a little bit more char
on the squab itself.
I could eat 12 more of those.
- Thank you, Chef. - Delicious.
BRYAN: Amanda, the charring technique on
the corn, the peaches, and the veal was a smart play.
The veal was a little bit undercooked on mine.
The salad itself, throw that in a quart and give me a spoon.
- Thank you. - Happy camper. Very good.
Who do you think had the ultimate charred dish today?
I think the chef who really burned
the competition in this one is...
Danny.
KRISTEN: Congratulations!
You just won $20,000 from our friends at Finish Ultimate.
- How does that feel? - It's amazing.
It's going to the Brownstone Fund
for me and my wife to buy a home.
The Brownstone Fund is stacking up.
I can't wait to get on the phone with Samae and let her know.
- Cool, well done. - Thank you.
All right, Chefs. Who's ready to play ball?
Oh.
Chefs, this week you'll be taking part in
America's favorite pastime.
- Baseball. - Yay.
But you won't be doing it alone.
Okay.
- There he is. - Let's go, guys!
Please welcome Top Chef All-Star, Amar Santana,
and the Milwaukee Brewers' famous racing sausages.
DAN: It's so ridiculous.
MANNY: Hell yeah, there's chorizo.
When I was in high school,
my breakfast was two white bread mayo and chorizo sandwiches.
I love eating chorizo.
Tom's in one of them, you have to guess.
During the sixth inning of every home game, the Bratwurst,
Polish sausage, Italian sausage,
hot dog, and chorizo, of course...
Yay!
...line up and race around the field.
KRISTEN: And it will be the inspiration
for your next Elimination Challenge.
You all are going to compete in our very own
Top Chef Sausage Race.
- Yes. - Come on.
And true to baseball, this will be a team challenge.
All right, Chefs, come grab a knife.
KEVIN: I really hope Manny's on my team. He's my boy.
But I'm so pissed I missed this $20,000.
I was so close.
You must be - ing kidding me.
Ah, the boyfriends are together.
Split yourself up, blue and yellow.
KALEENA: I know what it feels like
to be on a team that doesn't win.
I just came back from Last Chance Kitchen.
I mean, honestly, I want to be able to remind everyone
that I'm back, and I'm back with force.
Okay, thanks, guys, for letting me hang out with you.
Oh, stop.
What up, ladies?
I like what's happening. Here's how the race will work.
There will be five head-to-head innings,
with each inning featuring a different sausage.
Every member of the team will be responsible for one dish.
Okay.
So tomorrow, the famous Racing Sausages
will do what they do best, race.
Whatever order the sausages come in
will be the order in which you present your dishes.
You'll not only have to impress just us,
but an esteemed panel of 15 judges.
That includes star of Pitch Perfect, Brittany Snow,
former Brewers star and restaurant owner, Ryan Braun,
as well as a handful of local chefs and sausage experts.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Each inning, the votes will be tallied
and the chef who has the most votes
will score one run for their team.
Whichever team wins the most innings
will obviously be the wiener of the challenge.
Oh, boy.
One person from that team will be named the MVP,
while one or two chefs who lost their head-to-head
will be up for elimination.
As we've made it to the seventh inning stretch
of this competition, immunity is no longer on the table
for Elimination Challenges.
I caught the last one there.
Tomorrow, you'll have two hours to prep and cook
in the American Family Field Kitchen.
Good luck, Chefs.
- Yay. - All right, sausages, let's go.
- Bye. - Bye-bye.
- Four. - And five.
All right, all right, all right.
So, should we talk about what sausage you guys want to cook?
- Yeah. - DANNY: With immunity,
if no one wants the hot dog, I will do the hot dog.
I don't necessarily want the bratwurst, either.
- I'll do the bratwurst. - I can do Italian.
Can I do chorizo? Yeah?
Then, I'll do Polish. I think I might go with the étouffée.
What do y'all think?
The chaos challenge, it hit me hard.
Personally, on my plate that I had, the center was raw.
My pita was very, very dark to the point where it was bitter.
I have to buckle down. I cannot put out any more bad dishes.
AMANDA: All your dishes should be able to be executed
- in the two-hour time. - Yeah, yeah.
- But étouffée's a great idea. - Okay.
- I'll take bratwurst. - Okay.
I'll take chorizo.
I'm gonna take the, just the hot dog.
Hot dog.
I feel pretty comfortable with the Polish.
I guess I'll take Italian then.
- I mean, it's close to France. - Taco Bell.
All right, so I was thinking, doing, like, corn dogs.
I'm nervous.
Hot dogs are the vanilla flavor of all the sausages.
But it's such a neutral flavor
that I can make it as crazy as I want.
- Just a pretty corn dog. - SAVANNAH: What you got?
Italian risotto with the sausage.
I start my risotto with the sausage.
So, all the greasy oil, I keep the oil after,
and after I'm gonna make my emulsion with the oil.
- You've done this before? - Of course.
DAN: Kevin really wants to do the risotto,
but cooking a risotto on Top Chef
is historically not a great move.
Just from the last one, you spend 200, you're done.
Last time, it was just, like, moving too many things around.
I'm making very meaningful eye contact with Laura
because the last team challenge, I got totally played,
if you will, on the budget.
Let's see. Okay, get the chocolate. I need this.
- Do you need all this stuff? - CHARLY: Danny, we're at nine.
Nine hundred? Ah, I'm----ed.
Let's just play an honest game on that one.
- Let's be fair. - Okay.
- You ready to do this? - AMANDA: Yeah. Let's do it.
- Roll out. - Roll out.
Danny? Where's Danny?
MICHELLE: Hey, Savannah. I heard you got Polish.
It's a Polish-off.
Oh! If I lose, at least I know that you beat my ass.
Hot Italian or mild Italian? What is a hot Italian?
You're a hot Italian. One pound of this chorizo.
AMANDA: I'm just gonna look at Bratwurst.
I'm not going to make it. I don't feel like I have time.
Can I get some ground pork?
I'm making my own sausage.
That way, I can add as much flavor as I want.
Chorizo kebab tacos. How about that?
Twenty-four minutes!
I'm looking for creme fraiche.
Growing up, we made a lot
of German-inspired food in our home.
My dad was a master negotiator in the Special Forces.
He spent a lot of time in Poland,
and so I know that I can make a really good pierogi.
Is this my cart? Okay.
KEVIN: Oh, cheese.
AMANDA: You guys want to start?
Laura, if you hit 200, hold the rest of what you might want.
- How much is the budget? - $393.
I think we're being much smarter with these team challenges.
How are we doing on that budget, girls?
KALEENA: We're really under.
- Okay. - We good.
Everybody was good on this shopping. Boom.
DANNY: Damn.
$20,000?
MICHELLE: Great shop, guys. Great shop.
Hello. How are you?
LAURA'S HUSBAND: Good. You look pretty.
You look really beautiful too, baby.
It's been hard for me, being isolated.
I've been working with my husband
for the past six years now
and the partnership with my husband is so important because,
you know, it's having that right hand that you can trust.
Doing this without him is really hard.
Top Chef, it is a competition.
That unconditional support, like, you don't find that here.
You have to find it from inside you.
I struggle making decisions without you.
- That's the biggest thing. - I feel the same way.
I have to embrace the place where I am,
and it's about trusting myself.
Hold on and keep pushing. Kick ass. Have fun.
Don't think about here. You know you gotta win.
- I love you. - I love you.
I love you. Bye.
- DAN: Wow. - AMANDA: This is amazing.
DAN: Play ball.
The sausages have arrived.
KEVIN: Sausage party.
- SOO: This is crazy. - MICHELLE: This is dope.
DAN: You know, you see it from the stands.
It is nothing like walking out onto the field.
You have all these dreams as a kid of being in this spot,
and I'm there right now, like, yeah,
I'm not playing baseball, but I'm on Top Chef.
This is like classic Americana here, bro.
Good morning, Chefs.
Good morning.
Who ate sausage for breakfast?
No one.
As a reminder, we have five sausages in today's race.
And the order they place is the order you will serve.
- Right. - Yeah.
All right, Bryan and Amar,
you guys can go down to third base with the finish line.
- Let's do it. - KRISTEN: And sausages,
you can all head to your marks, please.
- Come on, guys. - Come on, guys.
Let's go!
[cheering]
I feel like I'm a little bit partial to the chorizo.
He's the only brown guy, so I gotta root for him.
S-O-C, sausage of color.
Sausages, are you ready?
Hot dog!
Let's go, chorizo.
On your marks, get set, go!
KEVIN: Come on, come on, come on, let's go, let's go!
[cheering]
Nice job, hot dog. Nice job.
AMAR: The hot dog kicked some butt.
BRYAN: I know, right?
All right, so here's the order of service.
Hot dog, Polish, Italian, chorizo, and then bratwurst.
- Yay. - We can make it work now.
- Ready to roll. - Everyone got it?
Yes, Chef.
Great, because your time starts now.
Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
DAN: Home and American Family Field.
Right behind you, bud.
KALEENA: All right, Yellow team, let's get it.
DANNY: Let's get it, let's get it, let's get it.
- LAURA: Let's win this time. - AMANDA: Let's go.
I'm feeling real confident. I feel like I'm at home.
Feels good.
Look at my beautiful sausage.
Last immunity, baby.
Honestly, it's not even on my mind.
I'm trying to win with this hot dog.
I just want to deliver a dope hot dog.
So, I'm making a bacon-wrapped hot dog
with braised red cabbage.
Boy's making a hot dog on Top Chef. Let's go.
MICHELLE: My sausage doesn't have bold, distinctive flavor,
so my goal is to impart flavor into it.
Michelle's making her etouffee with grits.
Kaleena, how you making out today, babe?
Right now, I'm just gonna kind of focus on my sauce.
DAN: Kaleena is doing a classic red sauce and beet gnocchi
that she's gonna make by hand.
LAURA: I'm making the masa for the tortilla.
AMANDA: You can use it now if you want to.
Okay, great. I'll bring it back, okay?
Yeah, no worries. Laura is making a very interesting dish
with her chorizo kebab tacos.
LAURA: I'm making another sauce.
It's going to have the actual chorizo,
almost like a chorizo marmalade on top.
I'm doing a caraway and rye spaetzle
with a caramelized onion sauce and mustard.
Danny and myself and Laura,
we have not won a single team challenge.
We can't lose. We have to win.
Soo, you ready to go first, baby?
Oh, yeah, Chef. I'm ready.
There's this craze happening with "Korean corn dogs"
so I'm making an elevated corndog.
Making a couple of different sauces,
a couple of different toppings.
I'm gonna roll it in these fries that have been
crisped up to give it that extra texture.
This is my pierogi dough.
SOO: Savannah chose Polish
because she's going to make pierogies with it.
Right now, I'm starting like a roasted parmesan emulsion.
SOO: Chef Kevin chooses to make a risotto
with the Italian sausage.
So, I have like some roasted sausage diced on the top.
How's your Mexican sausage going?
I just want this grill to be like ripping hot and...
Oh, there it is.
I am making a chorizo and cheese tetela
with chorizo salsa.
Imagine like a triangle Hot Pocket.
I'm making the bratwurst, but right now I'm working
on my potato pancake.
And Dan is making some sort of pancake.
It's a very German-style potato pancake with some sauerkraut,
some herbs, and some other stuff.
I don't know.
How do you feel about going against Amanda?
I love Amanda like a little sister, and I wish her the best.
But I gotta win.
LAURA: One hour and ten minutes left.
KEVIN: Hey, Kaleena, what you making?
- A gnocchi, Italian boy. - Oh!
He thinks he's got me because Italian,
but we'll see about that.
Let the best chorizo win.
SOO: Cornstarch makes everything nice and crispy.
Hopefully, maybe.
Chef Danny is definitely on a hot streak right now.
Now, I am going up against him. It's very scary.
I'm in a league of my own right now.
♪
KEVIN: I need to make a test, then I can start wrapping.
SOO: Hot, hot, hot.
Michelle, you used to play softball?
- Who played softball? - I played softball.
AMANDA: The only sport I ever played was DDR.
[Michelle laughs] I played softball in college.
I was the first baseman at Texas Southern University.
Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, and then moving
to Houston, culturally, was a food shock for me.
It was the first time that I really learned
about Creole and Cajun cooking.
I eventually learned how to make etouffee.
Everything starts with the Holy Trinity.
I can impart all of these big, bold flavors that an etouffee
has into this sausage to create a great dish.
It's called a flavor bomb if you're not familiar with it.
Thirty minutes to take the field, guys!
DANNY: Everyone on track with their times?
Yes. I have the chorizo marmalade ready.
I like it. I'm gonna put that on top.
They say you add bacon to everything.
It makes it taste good. So we're bacon wrapping them.
This is the "wasabi jalapeno sauce."
KEVIN: This is my emulsion parmesan,
so I really want a crust of parmesan on the bottom.
When you make risotto, you finish it with a ton
of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
...but all that stuff is parmesan.
So, I decided to make a sauce with it.
Roasted parmesan and fennel emulsion.
Guys, three minutes until we take the field!
Three minutes!
Did you get everything done you need to get done?
Yeah, I think so. It feels done.
- That feel good? - Are you good?
Yeah, I'm good to go, I think.
This what it feels like to be a baseball player?
I got it!
Okay, [bleep] this.
[panting]
- You okay Kaleena? - I need join the run club.
I didn't get my run in today.
This chorizo at a Whole Foods market is
actually really----ing good.
It's just insane.
This is a very elaborate setup.
- Oh! - A nice little place to eat.
You ever think of having dinner behind second base?
Well, on the green, no matter what.
KRISTEN: I just want to thank everybody for joining us
at our first-ever Top Chef Sausage Race.
Bryan and Amar, always a pleasure.
We think in 20 years from now
we're going to be Top Chef seniors.
Yeah, we are.
Brittany, I'm very excited for you to be here.
I'm very excited to be here.
And I think Ryan, the only one
- qualified to be on this field. - It's an honor.
I appreciate you guys giving me
the opportunity to join you today.
- Unique perspective for me. - Yeah.
I wasn't gonna have enough time to fry this to order,
so I kind of like par-fried it.
Yeah, I'm gonna hit a home run.
I had to bring a little finesse to the hot dog somewhere.
MICHELLE: You brought a little soignee.
Thirty seconds, Danny!
DANNY: I'm ready to go, son!
- Go get 'em, Soo. - Come back a winner, Danny.
DANNY: Girl, just keep your eye on that scoreboard.
Oh, my gosh. It's happening.
- Thank you very much. - How are you?
- Soo, how are you guys doing? - Good, thank you.
You feel good?
I never feel good at these things. You know this.
All right, Soo, can you tell us what you made?
So, you got your traditional corn dog.
On top of it, we have a wasabi jalapeno mayo
with some scallions, some nori flakes, and then some
little ginger to kind of cleanse your palate as you're eating it.
- Soo, what's in your coating? - I took some french fries,
cut them into little cubes, and then rolled it into--
French fries. That's what I was trying to figure out.
I taste the fries.
- So good. - What about you, Danny?
In the spirit of baseball, I wanted to give you a hot dog.
Braised cabbage and a beet relish on top.
Just a little spicy, a little sweet kind of combination there.
So on the count of three,
you can raise the color that you want to vote for.
One, two, three.
This is pretty tight.
So, we got six votes for Danny and nine votes for Soo.
Congratulations, Soo.
- Yeah! - Whoo!
That's one run for the blue team.
Let's go, Soo!
Soo, the batter, I thought it was a great
proportion to the dog itself.
I loved the texture in it.
It was perfectly crumbly and soft, but still
wrapped really nicely around the hot dog.
- Well done. - My big thing was the ginger,
and eating it in between bites,
the acidity really brought all the flavors together.
- Thank you. - It was the most fun corn dog
I've had in a really long time.
Both dishes, by the way, were really incredible.
This was really hard, guys.
- Well done, Chefs. Thank you. - Great job, guys.
All right, well, they didn't hate it.
- They loved it. - Soo, you're the best, bro!
- Hey! - What a great feeling.
Up 1-0. Absolutely huge.
That was the energy, bro. That was the energy.
- I want to try the filling. - Get with all the stuff, too.
You didn't eat it with any of the things.
- Oh, my God. - Good?
Well, at least we know Michelle's going to win.
I'm not sleeping on Savannah whatsoever.
I know she's gonna hit it out the park,
which means I have to hit it out the park even further.
- It looks really pretty. - Thank you, guys.
I hope it's a winning dish.
We gotta get on that board.
- Oh. - I was like, ugh...
All right, so next we have the Polish sausage.
We have Michelle coming over from the yellow team,
and Savannah will be coming from the blue team.
Thank you.
- This is crazy. - I know.
Savannah, can you tell us about
your Polish sausage dish, please?
I went ahead and made a pierogi.
There is Polish sausage on the inside and then
a fennel and apple salad.
I can't find the Polish sausage here.
- Michelle. - I made for you today
a Polish sausage etouffee with
creamy grits topped with a nice, fresh collard green salad.
Is there sausage inside the etouffee as well?
- Yes, there is. - Very good.
So we're gonna vote on the count of three.
- Come on, Savannah! - Let's go, Michelle!
One, two, three.
Yes!
Oh, man. She got this.
Oh, [bleep] I meant to do this one.
I mean, oh, my God. This one looks like a landslide.
2-13. Well done.
Congratulations, Michelle.
That's one run for the yellow team.
I loved Michelle's dish because it kind of reminded me of home.
I grew up with grits.
Yeah, far superior to most ballpark food.
Like, just an explosion of flavors.
- I loved it. - Thank you.
I think Savannah, the only thing
I was missing in yours was I needed more sausage.
- Yeah. - Savannah, this is excellent.
- It really is. - Oh, thank you.
It's just, Michelle, this is fantastic. Beautiful.
- Thank you, guys. - Thank you.
- Michelle! - Let's go, girl!
Whoo-hoo!
At the end of the day, hers had a little bit more sausage.
Let's go! Bam, bam, bam!
Well, it's tied 1-1 in the third inning.
I have a lot of pressure on my shoulder
like everything is on the risotto.
It's time to pull the best risotto of my life.
♪
Five minutes, Kevin.
I love the amount of cheese that you put in there.
- It makes me happy. - KALEENA: Oh, I would love to
ing take down Kevin, especially in Battle Italia.
Would just give me such pleasure.
Where do you want me to put the sausage at?
Off to the right.
Kevin, do you want two pieces of sausage?
- One sausage. - Okay.
Make sure the sausage flavor's there.
Perfect. Beautiful.
That's the teamwork, guys. Give me sausage here.
Got it.
Time's up.
- Go! - Wish me luck!
Good luck! You've got this.
You got this.
KRISTEN: Next round, we have our Italian sausage.
Kaleena coming from the Yellow team
and Kevin from the Blue team.
Thank you.
Kevin, tell us what you made
with the Italian sausage, please.
Italian sausage risotto with roasted parmesan
emulsion with fennel.
You made your risotto in the catering kitchen.
Yeah, I part-cooked it over there and finished it
slowly on the induction.
I think it's a good risotto, but I don't know any better.
- Kaleena. - KALEENA: I've made for you
a potato gnocchi with a spicy Italian sausage
and Calabrian chili ragu.
Whoo! Let's go, Kaleena! Let's go!
All right, on the count of three.
One, two, three.
Congratulations, Kaleena.
It's a 13-2 vote. Well done.
It's fine. We have to get the last two.
- No pressure, guys. - Chef Kaleena,
your craftsmanship really showed when you rolled these gnocchis.
- I mean, they're perfect. - Thank you.
The texture of the gnocchi was fantastic.
The toppings really amplified the flavors.
I love the little kick of cayenne.
The ragu, the spiciness, the fluffiness,
everything was absolutely perfect.
Kevin, I like the flavor of your dish.
I thought there was just way too much cheese.
It's like there's more cheese on this than almost rice.
- Okay, Chef. - Kevin, I will say
it's probably one of the better risottos we've ever had
- in 20 seasons on the show. - Thank you, Chef.
All right, so the Yellow team, you are up 2-1.
Congratulations, Kaleena.
Thank you.
Your boy's right behind you.
- Your boy's right behind you. - Yay!
- Whoo! - Let's go, let's go.
Good job, girl. Let's finish this, guys.
- What did they say? - Everybody said it was
a little bit too cheesy
- MANNY: How's the time? - SAVANNAH: Two minutes left.
I think it's beautiful. I think it's very chorizo-forward.
I would emphasize how much you used it.
MICHELLE: Nice idea, Laura. This looks great.
- This is great. - It's a brilliant idea.
Do you have a better piece of cilantro there?
- Let's put it, please. - Looks great, Manny.
- Two, one. - Timer.
- Let's go, Laura. - Go, Laura.
KRISTEN: Next, we have the chorizo.
Thank you.
- KRISTEN: I know. - TOM: Wow.
All right, Manny, can you tell us
what you made with your chorizo?
We have chorizo and cheese tetela on top of
a roasted tomato and chorizo salsa and on top,
you just have avocado crema.
KRISTEN: Laura.
It's a chorizo kebab taco.
On top of that, there is a yogurt sauce with
a little bit of garlic and then I made the chorizo.
- I know. - I know.
- This is really hard. - This is hard, guys.
This is so good.
We wanted to make sure that our pitch was perfect.
All right, on the count of three.
- Let's go, Laura. - Let's go, Laura.
- Let's go, Manny. - Come on, Manny.
One, two, three.
With a score of 9-6, Manny, congratulations.
- Yes! - Yeah, Manny!
- Oh, sh--. Manny got it. - Manny got it?
I want to say, personally, I wanted to do this.
- Same, same. - I wanted to vote two.
I want to eat both of these completely.
- No one take my plate. - No worries.
The only differentiating factor of trying
to figure out which one is better was Laura,
the spice level on yours kind of overpowered the dish.
Manny, the balance of heat is why I chose yours.
Manny, you had a really well-balanced dish here.
There's heat, there's acidity,
there's the richness from the chorizo.
Every element layered beautifully.
You gave me my perfect plate of food.
- Thank you so much. - The reason I chose Laura was
- she made her own chorizo. - Thank you.
When you give us chorizo two different ways,
the chorizo relish really, I think, makes this dish
because it gives it the amount of acid that it really needs.
But these are both fantastic dishes.
- Thank you. - Keep cooking like this.
So, Manny, you took this round and you evened up the score.
- Good job. - Viva Mexico.
Viva Mexico. Thank you. Thank you.
- Oh, no, sorry, guys. - DANNY: Don't apologize, girl.
It's a tied game here. Let's go, Riviera.
I would really hate to be the person that puts Dan
on the bottom, but I'm gonna do my best to try to deliver.
- Amanda, the closer. - The stress be happening.
It's a tie, 2-2. It's anyone's game.
AMANDA: You gonna put some of the sausage on the spaetzle?
SAVANNAH: Do you have sausage in the pancake, too?
No, nine pieces on top.
The score is not an... I feel like sh--.
My hope is that one of my best friends
in this competition has cooked a worse dish than me.
Let's get it. We're gonna win.
Willing it to happen.
Let's get it.
- Let's win, guys. - Come on, Amanda!
Let's go, let's go!
- Thank you. - Thank you.
All right, Dan, can you tell us what you made?
Bratwurst, German sausage, really leaned into German.
German potato pancake on the bottom,
some charred cabbage with a garlic and caraway sauerkraut
mustard butter and dill.
I made for you a rye and caraway spaetzle.
On the very bottom of the bowl is a caramelized onion
with beer and mustard sauce, crispy sauerkraut.
- Good luck, buddy. - Good luck to you.
- Thank you. - All right,
on the count of three.
One. Two. Three.
- Yay! - Oh!
[bleep]!
That's 12 votes for Amanda and 3 votes for Dan.
Congratulations, Yellow Team. You have taken the game.
This is my first time winning anything.
Chef Amanda did a really nice job of just adding layers
of flavor, whether it was through the sweetness in
that vinaigrette or just the texture in that crumble.
I think that crumble really does it.
And I also like the mustard sauce,
- but they're both really good. - Thank you.
Dan, I loved the cabbage in yours, the brightness,
that citrus in it was just amazing.
I just felt like Amanda's dish was a little bit more cohesive,
and the caraway in it was just outstanding.
Thank you so much.
Amanda, you scored your team your third run,
so that means the Yellow Team is our winning team today.
Amazing. Thank you.
- Congratulations, Chef. - Thank you.
You can go celebrate with your brat.
TOM: Where's he? There he is.
- Congratulations! - Yay!
Get it, girl! Get it, girl! Get it, girl!
I feel like when the deck is stacked against you,
to come through with a big win...
You did it!
...and be the one to send it
for your team is probably one of the best feelings.
We do have a big decision to make, so thank you very much
for an incredible experience together.
Now are we gonna sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame or not?
- No? - We didn't do the wave yet, Tom.
Yeah, let's do the wave. Ryan, kick us off.
- Are we standing up? - Okay.
Yeah!
Overall, it was fantastic. Everyone did a phenomenal job.
Collectively, this was the best that you've done all season.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you, Chef.
Yellow Team, congratulations.
You scored the most runs and took home the win.
- How does it feel? - Awesome.
It was very organized.
We worked together so well as a team.
I had a great day with this team.
Kaleena, you tasted that sausage and realized you had
to balance it out with a little bit of heat.
The flavors were fantastic.
I know from Last Chance Kitchen you felt you had to come in
here to really prove yourself. You're off to a good start.
Thank you.
Michelle, I particularly loved that you took
Polish sausage and made it your own.
This felt like a dish you had made with this sausage
a hundred times and felt entirely like your dish.
- Thank you. - I loved the creativity
that you placed in etouffee and the baseballs to just go for it.
I was really happy with that.
I thought it was a really fantastic,
- wonderful, flavorful dish. - Thank you. Thank you.
Amanda, you won your head-to-head battle
with your spaetzle.
You included the sausage in the spaetzle as well.
You did it two ways, not just two slices.
I think that's what made the dish for me.
Thank you so much.
I'm going to let everybody in on a big secret.
I don't really eat sausage.
It was really nice to be able to discover those flavors.
I loved the pickled pear as well.
Thank you.
Brittany, Amar, and Bryan, as our guest judges,
you have the great pleasure of announcing our winner.
The winning chef today really embraced the challenge
and brought something that was really unique.
Overall, the best dish today gave us
the flavor bomb that was delicious.
And the chef with the winning dish tonight is...
Michelle.
Congratulations, Michelle.
That makes you the MVP of tonight's game.
Well done.
Oh, my God. To win it, knowing that everyone put up
phenomenal dishes is such a boost of confidence for me.
I'm surprised, happy, excited, especially to be in here.
It was a beautiful, beautiful dish.
Thank you. This is my second Elimination Challenge win.
I'm gonna enjoy this win, but I still got some work to do.
That $250,000 is still on the table.
Your girl MVP.
KRISTEN: Blue Team, even though you lost the game today,
you all should feel very proud of what you put up.
It was incredibly close.
But Kevin, Savannah, and Dan, the three of you
lost your head-to-head battles.
At this point, every little thing counts.
And unfortunately, someone will be going home
for making a good dish tonight.
Chefs, it's always tough when we get actually good dishes,
but someone's got to go home.
It's just how the game is played here.
KRISTEN: Let's talk about them a little further. Kevin, risotto.
Historically, not great to make here in Top Chef.
Why risotto for you?
I was like, okay, let's show off what I can do.
All that cheese in it and the foam,
you couldn't taste the sausage.
If it was a cheese challenge,
you would have been the winner.
We had some grains that were cooked really well,
and we had some grains that were broken.
How long does it take to make risotto?
- Thirty minutes. - How much time did you have
- sitting over there? - Forty-five.
Why didn't you just make it to order?
I could, but what could I do for two hours over there?
- You know what I mean? - What does it matter?
Prep garnish, you could have done plenty of things.
I mean, yeah, yeah, sure.
Savannah, similar to Kevin,
I was missing the sausage a little bit.
Like being a sausage challenge, you wish that it was upfront,
it was packed in there, or maybe shaped just slightly different
where you could have more of that sausage filling inside.
You know, I think there was too much
focus on the pierogi, perhaps.
There was a voice in the back of my head saying,
make the sausage shine more, less potato.
Or found a different way to put sausage in a dish.
There were lovely things on both dishes.
- Sausage just wasn't the thing. - For sure.
Dan, you had sausage on top of a dish
as opposed to sausage in a dish.
You could have just done more with the brats.
- Yeah. - I also think
that all of the flavors were
expected a little, and I was kind of hoping
for some different textures.
Sure.
All right, Chefs, we'll call you back in a bit. Thank you.
- Thanks. - DAN: Thank you. Textures.
- Man, I'm so excited. - Come on, now.
Well, first things first, guys, let's definitely
- congratulate Michelle, man. - For real.
Bottom last week, top this week.
Thank you, thank you, guys.
I feel great, man.
The last challenge I was on the bottom,
I wasn't able to deliver and so it feels good to bounce back.
- Great. - Hell yeah.
That's what it's all about.
I mean, our chefs did an incredible,
incredible job today
and trying to sort out which chef, and possibly,
which chefs will be going home is gonna be quite a task.
All three of them made a similar mistake.
They didn't use the sausage very well.
But then it's gonna come down ultimately
to the flavors of the dish beside the sausage
because none of them really took advantage of it.
I think I got in my head so much.
I was really anxious about doing the sausage challenge,
but I totally agree with everything they said.
If I look at those three,
I have a hard time sending Savannah home.
That was a really good dish. It wasn't as sausage-forward
as it could have been, but it was a really good dish.
If I could bring more sausage flavor to my risotto,
it's just like, it is what it is.
Three of us did a good dish, so if we're going home
with a good dish, we're going home with a good dish.
Kevin's dish, we definitely needed more
sausage flavor on that dish.
It was nothing but Parmesan cheese.
TOM: It wasn't like a risotto. It was almost like a pilaf
that just had a ton of butter butter and cheese in it.
It was a good macaroni and cheese dish.
- It really was. Yeah. - It was.
I had a hard time, and I don't know
why this challenge was difficult.
I do cook with sausage. I do know bratwurst.
- I do know these flavors. - Dan's dish was unimaginative.
He just didn't try hard enough.
He just did a potato pancake and sliced some sausage on top.
Was Dan's lack of imagination and lack of work more or less of
an issue than Kevin's, or did they both make dishes
that were flawed enough to get them eliminated?
Yep.
Chefs, at this point of the competition,
it gets really tight.
Each one of these dishes were pretty much
lacking the same thing, a focus of the sausage.
Unfortunately, someone will be going home
for making a good dish tonight.
Kevin, please pack your knives and go.
- Gonna miss you so much. - TOM: Kevin, we just thought
that there was really too much cheese in the dish.
But you got another shot: Last Chance Kitchen.
We'll see you there. You know, just bring it.
- Sounds good, Chef. Thank you. - Thanks.
Coming second in Top Chef France,
I have this empty feeling of just I was so close to the win.
MANNY: My husband.
Bye, guys.
Coming in this competition, I really wanted to have
fire again and going, but it happened differently.
I'm sad. I'm sad.
- We love you. - Bye, guys. Bye, guys.
Good thing with America Top Chef, you have LCK.
I'm still gonna go to Last Chance Kitchen
and fight over there very hard
to take back my spot in Top Chef.
TOM: Tonight, Kevin enters Last Chance Kitchen along
with recently eliminated Rasika.
I came here to fight. I came in America for that.
Not gonna take me down that easy.
TOM: As they both begin their quest for redemption,
who will knock it out of the park?
I'm getting hungry.
Watch now on Peacock or wherever you stream Top Chef.
KRISTEN: Next time on Top Chef. This is Restaurant Wars.
Whoa.
This challenge will push you in ways
you have never been pushed before.
[sighs] Okay.
Restaurant Wars!
Nobody does this. You want to know why?
- Because it sucks. - I'm not okay.
Please, I'm on a time frame,
but let's make sure we have the dining room ready.
Is this the craziest thing you've ever done?
- Hungry? - Starving.
We need to fire the judges' table.
Okay, give me a second.
It's been over 30 minutes since we sat down.
The judges are asking about their first course.
We're getting like table numbers and stuff wrong.
This is like what sends people home.
Very slow start.