Top Chef ™: Wisconsin

Escovitch sauce is a vibrant Jamaican condiment featuring colorful bell peppers, fiery scotch bonnet chilies, onions, and carrots quick-pickled in a tangy vinegar brine infused with aromatic spices like peppercorns, allspice, and thyme.

The magic of escovitch lies in its preparation. Vegetables should be sliced thin for maximum flavor absorption and briefly cooked to maintain their crunch. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over vegetables to slightly soften while preserving their texture and bright colors.

Traditionally served over fried fish, escovitch sauce should be spooned generously over protein while still warm, allowing the tangy liquid to penetrate and transform the dish. The sauce develops deeper flavor after 24 hours but maintains its best quality when used within a week of preparation.

Dawadawa (or iru) is a fermented condiment made from locust beans, essential to West African cuisine, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana. This deeply aromatic flavor enhancer undergoes a transformative fermentation process, creating a complex umami taste similar to aged cheese or miso.

Traditional preparation involves boiling, dehulling, and fermenting locust beans until they develop their characteristic pungent aroma and sticky texture. The fermented beans are then formed into patties or balls for storage.

When cooking, use dawadawa sparingly. Its intense flavor requires a light hand. Add small amounts early in the cooking process for soups, stews, and sauces, allowing its rich umami notes to permeate the dish. Store unused portions wrapped tightly, as its powerful aroma can dominate your refrigerator.

Pot liquor (or potlikker) is the deeply flavorful broth created when cooking greens like collards, mustard, or turnip greens, a treasured element of Southern cuisine. This nutrient-rich liquid captures all the minerals and flavors from the greens and their seasoning.

Traditional preparation involves simmering greens with smoked ham hock, onion, and seasonings until tender, creating this gorgeous amber-green elixir. Never discard this liquid gold. It contains both flavor and nutrients that leached from the greens during cooking.

Use pot liquor to moisten cornbread, as a base for soups, to cook beans, or simply enjoyed as a restorative broth. Some Southern families even save and freeze their pot liquor, treating it as a cherished ingredient that carries the essence of generations of cooking wisdom.

A pithivier is a stunning French pastry featuring two discs of buttery puff pastry encasing a rich filling, traditionally almond cream (frangipane). The hallmark is its characteristic sunburst pattern scored on top and scalloped edges.

Cooking Tips: Handle puff pastry with cool hands and minimal working to maintain its layers. After assembling, refrigerate a pithivier for at least 30 minutes before baking—this critical step prevents butter melting prematurely and ensures those magnificent flaky layers.

Bake in a hot oven (375-400°F) until deeply golden and puffed. 

The key to perfection lies in the glaze—brush with egg wash twice for that professional sheen. Allow pithivier to cool slightly before serving, as the filling continues setting after baking.

Using beer as the primary liquid in pizza dough transforms your homemade crust into something extraordinary. The carbonation in beer creates additional air pockets throughout the dough, contributing to a lighter texture, while the alcohol promotes faster fermentation than water alone.

The malted barley in beer introduces natural sugars and enzymes that feed the yeast, accelerating fermentation and developing complex flavors. During baking, these sugars caramelize beautifully, creating that coveted golden-brown, crispy exterior.

The alcohol content also helps inhibit gluten formation, preventing the dough from becoming too chewy. Choose lighter beers for subtle flavor or craft ales for more pronounced notes. Remember to reduce salt slightly, as beer already contains sodium.

Tigelle are traditional Italian pocket breads from Emilia-Romagna, particularly the Modena mountains. These small, round flatbreads feature a distinct pattern from the special cast-iron molds they're cooked in.

The dough requires simple ingredients—flour, water, yeast and a touch of lard for authenticity—but needs proper resting time to develop flavor. Cook tigelle on medium heat in their traditional patterned presses or between two heavy skillets until golden with a slightly crisp exterior and tender interior.

Slice tigelle horizontally while warm and fill with classic combinations of cured meats, cheeses, and spreads like Parmigiano-Reggiano, prosciutto, or herb-infused lard (cunza). 

These versatile breads shine as vehicles for both savory and sweet fillings.

Jollof rice is a beloved West African dish featuring rice cooked in a rich tomato-based sauce seasoned with aromatic spices. The key to perfect jollof is building layers of flavor. Start by sautéing onions until golden, then add tomatoes, peppers, and spices to create a deeply flavorful base.

The rice should cook slowly, absorbing the sauce until it develops its signature orange-red hue and each grain remains separate yet tender. Never rush jollof since it demands patience as it simmers to perfection. The slightly charred bottom layer (called "bottom pot" or "kanzo") is particularly prized.

Serve jollof rice hot, traditionally alongside fried plantains and your protein of choice.

Gastrique: Sweet-Sour Balance in French Cuisine

A gastrique is a sophisticated French sweet-and-sour sauce created by caramelizing sugar and deglazing with vinegar. This classic technique dates back to 17th century French haute cuisine, where it emerged as a way to balance rich dishes with bright acidity.

To prepare a basic gastrique, caramelize granulated sugar in a heavy saucepan until amber-colored, then carefully deglaze with vinegar (wine, fruit, or balsamic). Once incorporated, add stock or fruit purees for additional flavor complexity, and simmer until slightly thickened.

Modern gastriques often feature fruit elements like orange, raspberry, or fig paired with complementary vinegars. The resulting sauce - tangy, sweet, and slightly syrupy - adds brilliant contrast to rich proteins like duck breast, pork tenderloin, or seared scallops, cutting through richness while enhancing the dish's depth. Equally, a gastrique can be used on a dessert to add piquancy.

In Season 22 of Top Chef ™ we saw Cesar making a dessert from pickles, and part of his dish was a gastrique made from Bread and Butter Pickles.

Jus lié is a classic French culinary technique that refers to a meat sauce or gravy that has been lightly thickened. The term translates directly to "bound juice" in English.

It's made by taking a natural meat stock or pan drippings (jus) and thickening it slightly with a starch, typically a roux (butter and flour mixture), cornstarch, or arrowroot. Unlike a full gravy, jus lié maintains much of the clarity and intense flavor of the original jus while having just enough body to coat the back of a spoon.

In traditional French cuisine, jus lié often serves as an elegant finishing sauce for roasted meats, providing richness and moisture without overwhelming the main protein. The subtle thickening enhances the sauce's ability to cling to meat while maintaining the pure, concentrated flavors of the meat juices.

Chefs appreciate jus lié for striking the perfect balance between the intensity of a pure jus and the coating properties of a thicker sauce.

Cannolo (singular of cannoli) is an iconic Sicilian pastry featuring a crispy tubular shell traditionally filled with sweetened ricotta cream. Dating back to Arab-ruled Sicily (9th-11th centuries), legend claims they were created in a harem near Caltanissetta as a fertility symbol for Carnival celebrations.

To make authentic cannoli, create a dough with flour, sugar, butter, egg, and marsala wine. Roll thin, wrap around metal tubes, then fry until golden and crisp. The classic filling combines sheep's milk ricotta with sugar, candied fruits, and sometimes chocolate chips or pistachios.

The secret to perfect cannoli lies in filling the shells just before serving to maintain their delightful contrast between crispy exterior and creamy interior. Traditionally dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with candied orange peel or chopped pistachios.

Cannolo, while traditionally a Sicilian sweet pastry, offers exciting possibilities for savory reinvention. The iconic crispy tubular shell can be brilliantly transformed into an elegant savory appetizer or main course component.

To create savory cannoli, prepare the shell dough without sugar, incorporating herbs or spices instead. After frying to golden perfection, fill with savory mixtures like herb-infused goat cheese, seasoned ricotta with sun-dried tomatoes, smoked salmon with cream cheese, or even spiced meat fillings.

The tubular shape is designed for handheld eating. This practical form maintains the essential textural contrast—crispy exterior with creamy interior—that makes cannoli so satisfying in both sweet and savory applications. Keep the shells separate from filling until serving for maximum crispness.

Obe Ata is a vibrant red pepper sauce central to Nigerian cuisine, particularly Yoruba cooking. This aromatic base combines red bell peppers, scotch bonnet or habanero peppers, tomatoes, onions, and sometimes garlic, all blended and then slowly simmered until rich and flavorful.

To prepare authentic Obe Ata, blend the peppers, tomatoes, and onions until smooth. Heat palm oil (or vegetable oil) in a pot, then simmer the blended mixture on low heat, allowing the water to evaporate and the flavors to concentrate. Season with salt, bouillon, and traditional spices like locust bean (iru) for depth.

Obe Ata serves as the foundation for numerous Nigerian stews and is traditionally paired with rice, yam, or enjoyed with protein like fish or beef.

Tsukune are Japanese chicken meatballs, popular in yakitori restaurants and izakayas.

These juicy meatballs combine ground chicken with finely chopped onions, ginger, and sometimes shiitake mushrooms. The mixture is typically seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and mirin, then shaped around skewers before grilling.

What makes tsukune distinctive is their texture—slightly bouncy yet tender—achieved by kneading the mixture until sticky. They're typically glazed with tare (a sweet-savory sauce) during grilling for a caramelized finish.

Home cooks can bake them instead of grilling and adjust the seasonings to taste. For authentic texture, include cartilage or use chicken thigh meat with its natural fat. Serve tsukune hot, brushed with additional tare and optionally topped with a sprinkle of sansho pepper.