Top Chef ™

Vinny: "Spring ingredients are very labor intensive. A lot of peas, favas that need shucking, and things like that. I find dried morels. They're a spring item, so maybe make a broth with that."

"I'm going to get this broth going of morel mushrooms, ginger, garlic, charred scallions, then a bunch of the Asian condiments. I have a lot of Asian flavors going today. Something new for me."

Vinny: "I'm grinding the lamb. Sustainability is not just about the freshest ingredients. It's utilizing the entire product, making sure nothing goes to waste. So I can use the lamb, turn it into a filling for a dumpling, then use all the remaining bones and all the trimming for the consomme. Adding a little lamb to that broth."

Presenting to Judges

Vinny: "I made a lamb dumpling with a morel mushroom consomme, enoki mushrooms, just raw, and some shucked English peas. I wanted to make more of a rich consomme going into the lighter spring items.

Judge: "How did you compose the soup?

Vinny: "Basically, any trimmed offcuts from the preparation of the farce went into the preparation of the consomme."