Top Chef ™
Baker:
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Challenge Type:
Saskatoon Braised Beef Cheeks
Bailey: "I got beef cheeks and witch berry, also known as saskatoon. Saskatoon traditionally were used in pemmican."
Dayna: "We would dry the saskatoon and pound it with dried smoked meat."
Bailey (shopping): "Blue cheese, beef, blue cheese, berries. Like, makes sense to me. This will work perfectly. But blue cheese can get overly funky, so I want to get some sugar for it too. I think that'll help balance it. I'm going to do a brulée on top of my polenta."
Bailey: "I've got to get my beef cheeks going, like, yesterday, because there's just, like, a lot of collagen in them, and so you have to break them down. I end up with Saskatoon berries. This berry is tasting, to me, tart, but they're a little sweet. They're kind of, like, right in the middle of the road. Trying to get a lot of liquid out of the Saskatoon so that I can get a braise going for my beef cheeks. It's a pretty dry berry. I'm going to need to coax the berry flavor out of them with, like, a little bit of pomegranate juice. "
Bailey: " I'm gonna brulee this cheese and put it on top of my polenta. I want to add a little funk and sweetness. There's some risk in that. But at the same time, I love a bruleed gorgonzola dolce. The stakes are so high at this point. There's a very small window of mistakes you could make. Wish me luck."
Presenting to Judges
Bailey: "I really wanted to do this braised beef cheeks, and Saskatoons. So I macerated a lot of those berries with pomegranate juice. I paired that with creamy polenta, bruleed blue cheese, and roasted walnut."
Judge: "Did you find the Saskatoon needed the addition of the pomegranate?"
Bailey: "I thought I just wanted a little bit. Just to pop it a little bit more."
Judges
"The layers of flavor that she managed to get into this dish, I'm really impressed with. I love the nuts. I'm a big fan of blue cheese. But the brulee is throwing me off."
"Why would you decide to put pure sugar on top of it?"
"I like the way the berry flavor actually got into the beef. Yes. Even though she kind of cheated a little bit with pomegranate. But you are getting that flavor in the beef."
"The flavor of the Saskatoon is lost in the sauce. Once you get to this point in the competition, it's not just about a great dish. Playing into the challenge really matters."
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