Beef & Broccoli Riff
As seen on TV
Which Show?
Who made this dish?
A fine-dining riff on beef and broccoli built on top sirloin: roasted and pickled cauliflower, fried brussels-sprout leaves, a fish-sauce caramel, and sirloin that was marinated, confit, then grill-smoked.
Kim changed her game plan the morning of service after a first-day fry test failed to give her the tenderness she wanted, pivoting into multiple cooking methods on a single piece of meat - which ultimately cost her on the "two ways" commandment.
Kim: "I'm thinking, how can I create a story about this cut of meat that would make people want to eat it every day at the restaurant? I opened Nightbird in 2016. My partner and I, we do it together. We are, I think, the straight-up definition of mom and pop. I've been at a vacation since 2014. Winning a million dollars would definitely ease that."
Kim (morning of service): "I'm switching up my game plan a little bit just to make sure everything comes out how I want it. Yesterday with the sirloin, I wasn't happy with the frying. Obviously if the meat's not cooked well, I'm not gonna do well. So my game plan changed, and I want to impart moisture and tenderness as much as I can. I'm gonna do one piece of meat confit and then I'll grill it and I'll smoke it. It'll be multiple ways of me cooking this beef and it's gonna come out delicious."
Kim (to judges): "I kind of did a play on beef and broccoli. Roasted cauliflower, pickled cauliflower, fried brussels. I made a fish sauce caramel. I marinated, and then confit, and then kind of grill-smoked the sirloin."
Kim: "It made sense in my brain that as long as I'm applying confit, I'm applying smoking, I'm applying grilling, that those were multiple ways and that it tasted good. And I [screwed] up on the rules. If there's a shining light in this situation, that's it."
Kim (final words): "Thank you so much. You guys are amazing. Have a great time. They're awesome chefs. Thank you so much."
Padma: "We're not going to have beef two ways. You just put two methods [on] one sirloin."
Kim: "Yes. Did I? That look on your face. Okay, I was having a good day."
Wiley Dufresne: "Kim, I love the riff on the beef and broccoli. You confit that beef and then you sliced it..."
Kim: "Grilled it and sliced it. Yeah."
Wiley Dufresne: "A lot of flavour. Well done."
Michael Cimarusti: "Well done."
Pat LaFrida (deliberation): "She didn't prepare the meat in two different ways, but what she did serve I thought was tender."
Michael Cimarusti (deliberation): "She confit it first and then grilled it to finish it. I don't think that passes muster with regards to preparing beef in two different ways."
Padma (deliberation): "Mastery of the commandment is something we need to take into account."
Padma (at elimination): "Kim, we thought your dish was flavourful, but the challenge was to make a dish with beef cooked two ways, and you only made us one."
RESULT: Eliminated. Lowest combined butchery + cookery score.
What next?
Tell us what you'd like and we'll send what you pick.
Request the recipe
Weekly recipe digest
word