Top Chef ™

Tristen: "I am going to use this smoked rice for my risotto. Of course, it's me, so I'm going to add a little bit of chili. This is tomatoes, chilies, garlic, onion, peppers. I'm going to go in this jollof rice direction while adding all these umami flavors. I love all rice. Rice is such a cultural thing."

Tristen: "Some people like rice al dente. I like it really creamy. My perfect risotto needs to be beautifully creamy. You achieve that through slowly adding stock and constant agitation to coax the starch out of the short grain rice. It thickens the liquid that you are using. Separately, I'm just going to char a little bit of greens with a blowtorch."

Tristen, preparing to plate: "My risotto has a really great depth of flavor. I'm adding my herbs and pecorino cheese into it."

Presenting to Judges

Tristen: "This is a West African inspired risotto with dressed heirloom tomatoes and charred buttered greens."

Kristen Kish: "Are you happy with how it came out?"

Tristen: "I felt good about it. Made something I enjoyed."

Judges: "The texture is right on this. Very good."